Out of the Shadows, AnthroLover's Version
by AnthroLover
Summary: When an sharptooth's mind is twisted in evilness, what can happen? I don't own the original story. If you want to see the original than shearch for it. Did you saw the chapther 62? Now I'm accepting OC's, give a look and send me yours, or post it in a review. Any one is welcome to post. New chapter up! Enjoy, everyone! The surprises only start.
1. Author's Note

I would be telling I lie if I said that I own this story. This was created by DarkHououmon, and he gave me permission to write it again, making some changes and basically changing radically the final of the story.

This is how I think the story should have went.

Characters here presented belong to DarkHououmon and Universal Pictures, except the ones created by me.

Just remembering, the credit of the original story is going to DarkHououmon, the one who creted the original one, this is my version, and I'm in no way claiming property of this or any character here presented, with exception of the ones that were not made by Universal Studios and that were not in the original story.


	2. Attack at Night

Part I: The Mystery

It all be began with a rustle in the wind. The trees swayed to and fro, leaves sometimes popping off and catching the wind. A single leaf rested on the ground, silent and still as the air soon became. The stars twinkled in the moonlight, providing what little light was left during the dark night. Suddenly, the leaf was spun into the air as a sudden puff of warm air hit it. It spun around and landed back on the ground. The breath of air belonged to a large plant-eating dinosaur, a swimmer. The green dinosaur was laying on her side, mouth open as she took in breaths of air, and exhaled. Her large tail was moving slightly towards and away from her body. Her legs were jerking, and she was mumbling. She was having a dream.

She rolled onto her other side, and seemed to settle down. The wind picked up again, sending the leaf to soar even further away from the duckbill. It settled down next to a large tree. Without warning, a large foot smashed onto the leaf. When the leg was pulled away, there was a large footprint. In the center was the leaf, smashed into bits. The leg took another step closer to the sleeping dinosaur. A shadow of a large dinosaur fell onto the sleeping plant-eater.

The swimmer squinted her eyes as she slowly awoken from her sleep. She looked up. She could not make out the outline of the creature. All she could see was a shadow and a pair of white eyes staring down at her. "H-Hello?" She asked softly, narrowing her eyes to get a better look at the dinosaur standing before her. When the creature didn't replay, she got up onto her feet. "Hello?" She asked again. "Who is there?"

The creature grinned, showing a flash of white teeth, all of them long and pointed like swords. The swimmer felt terror fill her heart. She took a step back. It was some kind of large sharptooth!

"You're a sh-sharptooth..oh no no no..." She placed her hands on her face, and took a few steps back.

"Glad you realized that." The sharptooth spoke in a growly voice.

The swimmer's eyes widened. "You can speak...?" The sharptooth nodded, and advanced towards her. The swimmer, being an adolescent, knew that fighting the sharptooth could result in her death. She did the only thing she could think of: run.

"Where do you think you're going?" The angry creature took off running, his footfalls making loud booms as they hit the earth.

The swimmer didn't answer. Her heart was pounding and her breathing quickened as she tried to evade the sharptooth. She forgot that they were in the Great Valley. She forgot that sharpteeth could not get in. All that filled her mind now as terror and dread.

She tripped over a large root that was rising out from the ground. With a painful snap, she fell to the ground, rolling in the dirt and coming to a stop a few feet away. She gasped as the shadow fell upon her once more.

"Can't run anymore, now can we...?" He grinned toothily, making the swimmer shudder with fear. He started advancing towards her again when suddenly a loud bark caught his attention.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER, SHARPTOOTH!"

"Oh crud..." The sharptooth cursed as he saw a charging three horn headed his way. He glared back towards the swimmer. "We'll finish this later, Ducky."

Ducky gasped. "How did you..." But the sharptooth vanished into the night.

The three horn came to a stop by Ducky's side. "You all right?" The swimmer looked up at the three horn and smiled gratefully.

"I am fine. Thank you Cera."

Cera smiled gleefully. She hasn't changed much in all these years. Her horns weren't fully grown in, but she still loved to show them off. "Glad I could help." She looked in the direction the sharptooth disappeared in. "Dunno how he got in, but if he shows up again..."

Ducky interrupted her friend. "Something was different about him, yep yep yep."

"Oh really? What?"

"He could talk." She said softly. Before the shock could register in Cera's mind, Ducky added in, "And he knew my name..."

Elsewhere, looking down at them from a high mountain, stood the same creature that harrassed Ducky earlier. His white eyes had red irises in them, and the moonlight revealed his skin to be bluish or grayish. He flexed his small clawed hand, and he scowled at the plant-eaters that were chatting in the field he had been in recently.

"We will meet again, Ducky. Mark my words..." He turned around and disappeared again just as the wind was picking up once more and sending more leafs into the air. They performed a mid-air circle where the sharptooth was standing. And then all was silent again.

Somewhere hing above, a figure was watching, it had a very sad look in its face. "How could someone like him become this?" It asked in a sad voice before turning and flying away.


	3. Meeting

Part I: The Mystery

Cera was trying to make sense of it all. A sharptooth that could talk AND knew her friend's name? "How could he have possibly have known..." Her voice trailed off as a thought crossed her mind. She quickly dismissed it, and looked again at her swimmer friend.

"I don't know how he knew." Ducky sighed, laying back down on the ground. "But perhaps we should tell everyone this tomorrow."

Cera nodded. "Yeah, good idea." With that she turned and walked away. Ducky closed her eyes and slept undisturbed for the rest of the night. The wind never blew again all night.

By morning, Ducky awoke to the sound of voices clamoring. She groggily opened up her eyes and found herself staring at Petrie. She yelped in surprise and the flyer was knocked back a few inches.

"Hey, watch it! Me am your friend, remember?" He brushed himself off. Petrie had grown into a strong flyer, but he still spoke like he was a child.

Ducky blushed and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry Petrie. I didn't know that was you. Nope, nope, nope." She grinned nervously.

Petrie smiled. "Oh forget about it." The smile faded. "Cera tell me that you attacked by sharptooth." Ducky nodded, the smile having faded off her beak as well. "And she said it talk. Is that true?"

Ducky rubbed her arm and sighed as she remembered the details of what happened that night. "Unfortunately yes, yes, yes."

Petrie looked at his friend sympathetically. "Me sorry." He stretched out his wings. "Time for us to go to the others. They know what happen." He took off, flying towards the center of the Great Valley where the meetings were held.

The swimmer climbed to her feet, stretching out her limbs, and yawned. "Better follow him." Ducky took off running after Petrie.

The trees were swaying in soft wind again, but gentler than they had at night. A few rocks rolled off the small rocky hill that lay in the middle of the valley. The small rocks landed on top of something soft and green. But instantly, a foot was scratching it off.

(Author's note: I got really bored, so that explains how I have Spike acting in this chapter. ; )

"Man, messa hate the rock." Mumbled a voice. It was Spike. Almost fully grown, his plates and tail spikes hadn't fully come in. He also hadn't learned to speak properly, as he hadn't had much practice. He know regretted it. "Me me gonna kill dem all!"

Ducky, standing beside him now, chuckled. "How are you going to kill something that's not alive?"

"Crush dem till de blood comes out." Spike grinned.

"But you can't...oh nevermind." Ducky decided not to spoil her step brother's fun. She watched as Spike's tail smashed the rocks into powder. Ducky shook her head. "Never was very bright." She whispered inaudibly.

Mr. Threehorn cleared his throat loudly. It was loud enough that everyone in the valley could hear it. They all stopped chattering and waited for him to speak. Mr. Threehorn was an old timer now, but he hasn't lost his toughness. When Littlefoot's grandparents died a month ago, Topsy the Threehorn was given the right to be the leader. He was chosen because his sometimes rash decisions usually helped the survival of the valley.

"Ducky, you say you saw a sharptooth?" He asked huskily but gently.

Ducky nodded. "Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Threehorn. He attacked me in the middle of the night."

Topsy nodded his head once. "I thought I saw a sharptooth's shadow earlier. But I wasn't sure." He turned his head to the crowd. "Anybody have any idea how the sharptooth got in?"

Nobody answered for several minutes. Then one longneck took a step forward. The old threehorn recognized him as Littlefoot.

"Yes Littlefoot...?"

"I heard something that sounded like someone whacking their tail against rock last night." He looked at Spike and shook his head. "It wasn't Spike. He was asleep at the time. Suddenly there was the sound of rocks falling down. I wasn't sure where the sound was coming from."

Mr. Threehorn glared at Littlefoot. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Mr. Threehorn, I didn't tell anyone because I didn't..." He was interrupted by Cera.

"Nevermind if he didn't tell or not, father. Shouldn't we concentrate on the subject at hand?" Cera was no longer intimidated by her father, and looked as if she could beat him in a duel.

Her father nodded. "Yes..." He turned to Ducky. "And didn't you say he could speak? And knew your name?"

Ducky nodded. The crowd of dinosaurs broke out into murmurs and whispers. A talking sharptooth was unheard to them. Well unheard to most. Five of the dinosaurs in the crowd have met a talking sharptooth, but had no idea that there was another one out there somewhere. And now that sharptooth as arrived in the valley...

A pair of eyes watched the crowd. It lay hidden in vines and trees, the leaves and bark obscuring his shape. The pupils dilated, and bright teeth glittered in the noon sun. It was the sharptooth that attacked Ducky that night.

His large hulking shape was revealed by his shadow. He was a large sharptooth, similar to the one that killed Littlefoot's mother. His red eyes fixed onto a certain flyer. He narrowed his eyes, and bared his teeth. "You're going to be the first one to go, Petrie." He then turned to look at Ducky, who's eyes were full of worry about the situation.

The sharptooth couldn't help but smile at her worryness. "And don't worry, my dear. I'll give him a quick death...and then rip out your throat!"

The ground shook lightly as the sharptooth walked away. The vibration of his feet hitting the ground caused some of the tree stars to fall slowly to the ground. Almost instantly, one of the tiny dinosaurs that Littlefoot became friends with showed up. It sniffed the leaf, and then grabbed it in its mouth. Like a mouse, it scurried across the forest floor to reach its home.

Suddenly, just as it was about to jump back into the hole, a set of jaws clasped around its tiny body. It squealed for help, but the jaws just closed around it. A painful yelp was let out before it died, its blood staining the sharptooth's mouth. The dead dinosaur was tossed into the air, and was soon swallowed by the sharptooth.

"Don't fill me much, but it'll have to do." The sharptooth then vanished, his foot smashing the tree star into bits.

Littlefoot's head suddenly lifted up and looked in the direction the sharptooth was just in. He couldn't see the sharptooth, but his ears had detected a scream.

Spike looked at his friend. "What it, Littlefoot?"

"I thought I just heard Dusty..."

* * *

In somewhere far away form there, a small figure opened its eyes. It had a sad look, tears forming.

"She was so young. Why this is happening?" It asked to no one in particular, like waiting the answer to fall from the sky. "Why we don't do anything?"


	4. The First Strike

Part I: The Mystery

The news of Dusty's death swept quickly among the valley. The reason for it spreading so quickly was not because it was a typical sharptooth attack. Most sharpteeth eat as much as they could without and then leave. But whatever sharptooth did this had swallowed her whole and spat up her entire skeleton in a different location. It was discovered by her old father, Big Daddy. The first to figure out what happened was Petrie. Then he told his friends, who told their folks, who told other dinosaurs in the Great Valley.

Cera was especially hard hit. She and Dusty had gotten close since the day they met. When she found out, she was heartbroken, and not even her father could help her. Littlefoot could only watch sadly as she would sit near the small opening where she had first met Dusty.

One day, Littlefoot decided to approach Cera. Perhaps a little talking will do her some good. It always worked for him, when his grandparents were still alive. But since their death, Littlefoot had grown much more responsible, and could easily look after himself.

As he approached Cera, he could hear her mumbling something as though she were asleep. As he got closer to her, a sudden breeze sent a dead leaf hurling into his face. He yelped in surprise, and the threehorn lifted her light tan head off the ground, and looked to face the young brown longneck.

"What do you want?" She asked huskily, turning her head away.

"I'm...sorry." He croaked.

Cera looked at him sharply. "You? Sorry? About what?"

Littlefoot hesitated. "About Dusty..."

Cera's eyes softened and her frown had disappeared. "Yeah, that's what everyone had told me." The mourning threehorn had gotten support from several other dinosaurs, including her father and Tria, who was now her father's new mate and her new mother. "I just wish I could've done something... I mean... sh-she was my-my best friend..." The threehorn made no attempt to hide the salty tears that now dripped from her green eyes.

"Oh, Cera..." The longneck whispered. "It wasn't your fault..."

"And what makes you think that!" The threehorn suddenly snapped, making the longneck back away a few inches. Littlefoot was startled by her temperature. "If I hadn't gone to that meeting, I could've...I could've saved her..." Cera lowered her head.

Littlefoot tried to approach her again, but Cera just turned around and charged at him. It was only a mock charge, but it was a warning for him to back away. Littlefoot sighed sadly. Cera really was taking this hard, even harder than he and the others were taking it. Littlefoot slowly turned around, and with one last look, he walked back into the forest.

Cera was left alone in the meadow. Her head rested on her front legs, and was tilted sideways. She closed her eyes and started to doze off. The soft grass that brushed against her skin served as a comfort for the inner pain that she was suffering.

About 2 days afterwards, during the middle of the night, Petrie was sitting back up in his nest. His mother, before she died from an illness, had showed him how to weave his own nest that he could sleep in. He was no expert, but it served him well. He laid on his back, wings outstretched to both sides of him, and his mouth was gaping open, tongue hanging out. He breathed in slowly, exhaling quietly.

His expression suddenly changed. Sweat starting dribbling down his face. His eyes were shut tightly suddenly, and his wings wrapped around his body as if trying to save him from some impending danger that could not be seen or heard, but only felt by the soul. "N-No.. No...no..." He stuttered in his sleep. "Me...no...me no... Me no wanna die..."

In his mind, he suddenly found himself in pitch darkness. He could not see anything except for a tall rock. Without thinking he started to fly over it. But as he did so, the rock suddenly dispersed into several large boulders. Screaming, he manuevered quickly to dodge each boulder, barely missing them all by a claw tip.

The boulders finally disappeared. The flyer seemed relieved. But it was short-lived. His mind was filled with horror and dread as he realized that he was flying straight into a sharptooth's mouth! "NO!" He did a backflip in the sky and the mouth snapped shut as he did so.

Petrie could see the grinning mouth of the sharptooth, and he gulped as he stared into the eyes. The red eyes with pupils that narrowed as they stared at him. There was a dribble of saliva that dripped down the predator's mouth. The sharptooth licked his chops and advanced forward.

"I love a snack." It chuckled, a steam of breath nearly causing Petrie to lose control of his flying.

"You no take me!" Petrie declared and he tried to escape.

"Oh, Petrie, you cannot escape me." Petrie's eyes widened with terror. How did he know his name? "None of you can escape..." The chilling haunting voice stuck to his mind and he was so frightened he couldn't even move. He could only watch as the sharptooth's jaws opened up and closed in around him, sentencing him to eternal darkness.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The flyer screamed at the top of his lungs, disturbing a few close neighbors. "Sorry!" He said sheepishly. He heaved in and out, the color drained from his face. He felt his face, making sure he was all there. He looked at his feet. He was still in the nest.

He smiled slightly. "It...it only a dream." He would have been relieved if such an incident did occur. Petrie had an encounter with the sharptooth just the previous day. If it weren't for Cera, he'd be a goner. Cera was extremely hostile towards the sharptooth and somehow managed to strike him in the face. Petrie smirked mentally. That would give him a few nasty scars.

"Hey Petrie?" The flyer yelped and turned around.

"Who's there!" He looked down. "Oh, it only you, Littlefoot."

"Yeah. Anyway, what happened?" He used his head to point south. "I was sleeping over there and I heard you scream. Anything wrong?"

Petrie smiled nervously. "Scream? Me no scream."

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes. "Petrie..."

Petrie's smile faded. "Oh, it only a nightmare, Littlefoot. Me dreamt sharptooth killed me." He hesitated, and then continued. "See, me encounter sharptooth yesterday and..."

"YESTERDAY!" Littlefoot screamed in shock. Petrie gulped, and nodded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Me no want you to worry."

"A sharptooth has invaded our valley. How can I not worry?" Littlefoot growled softly, but regained his composure. Now was not a good time to get angry. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." As he stomped away back home, he looked back at Petrie. "But Petrie, next time you see that sharptooth, please tell someone about it."

"But Cera knew..." Petrie said sullenly.

"I know, but other dinosaurs have the right to know, Petrie."

"Me understand."

The longneck smiled. "Glad to hear it. Goodnight, buddy."

"Goodnight Littlefoot." Petrie waved Littlefoot goodbye as the longneck returned home to sleep for the rest of the night.

The flyer looked up at the night sky. The twinkling stars filled the skies, and the large moon shone brightly. Suddenly a shooting star whizzed by. Petrie smiled as he watched it go by so fast. He curled up in the middle of his nest, and went back to sleep.

A few hours later, a shadow descended upon the nest. Petrie was in deep sleep and was unaware of what was going on. A pair of eyes glared upon his tiny form.

"And this time...Cera won't be here to save you..." He chuckled, and opened his jaws wide.

As he lunged forward, Petrie turned in his sleep and smiled. "Oh thank you, mama..." He whispered, as a shadow seemed to engulf his body.

* * *

Far from there, on the edge of a cliff, a jade green fastbiter was looking at the night-starred sky. His turquoise-blue eyes full of a mix of anger and sadness. He didn't noticed the rainbow face aproaching him from behind him.

"Watching the stars again, old friend?" a gentle voice talked from behind him. He quickly turned around to face the silver-pupilled eyes of the rainbow face, an old know of him. "Hi Balcan."

The rainbow face sat by his side and joined him to watching the stars. they sat there in silence for a few minutes before the fastbiter broke the silence with a question. "Why?"

"Huh?" Balcan turned to him.

"Why you came here? Really?"

The aged dino just smiled "I thought that you may wanted a piece of this." he said showing a dead fish that seemed to have been catch very recently. In this moment the fastbiter's stomach growled quite loud, and he just stared back at the rainbow face.

"You already knew, didn't you?"

"You know very well the answer Salen." was all that Balcan answered.

"How can I choose if you already know?" asked the young fastbiter named Salen to the older dino.

"It isn't about making a choice, my dear friend." He wisely retorted "It is about having already made a choice, and now understanding it."

The fastbiter didn't understand the thing, but he just took the fish and started to eat it. Sometimes he thought that the old rainbow face only said things like this to confuse the others. They sat there in silence for a few minutes as the sharptooth ate the fish, when he finished, he turned to the rainbow face again.

"So, what happens now?"

"Well, I think you'll be here for a while, admiring the stars and-" Balcan answered silly but was quickly cut out by Salen. "NO, it wasn't what I meant. I mean, this whole situation, the things that are happening, all the one suffering and dying, and that we keep there without doing nothing." he busted out, then he took a deep breath and questioned again. "What happens now?"

Balcan only looked at his friend, asking himself how much he sold reveal to the young adult. After a few moments of contemplation, he finally spoke "I cannot tell everything to you, and you know this. But here what I can tell you: before the day becomes bright and clear the storm tends to be heavier, and the night is always darker before the dawn."

The fastbiter took a few moments to digest this information, and then spoke "Then, it is going to get worse?"

"The things many times tend to get worse before they actually start to get better. It depends on many things, specially in you, Salen"

The young fastbiter's eyes widened in this comment "ME!?"

"Yes young one, many things part from the choice resigned to you."

The fastbiter keep silence for a few moments then spoke again "So I will decide if things are going to be worse or better?"

"No my friend, you've already made this choice, now you must understand it." the rainbow face started to get up and said more "You can just be yourself and follow your heart, this way, maybe things get better. But, what do I know? I'm just an senile old-man who scares little children." and with this last commentary he walked away, leaving the fastbiter alone with his toughts.


	5. Consoling and Missing

Part I: The Mystery

"Cera! Cera! Cera!"

The threehorn slowly opened her eyes. She had dreamt that the whole ordeal was just a dream, that the little tinysaur was still alive. But as she saw Lizzie, another dinosaur she had grown especially attached to, was running towards her with a sympathetic look, Cera knew, heartachingly, that the past was real.

"Oh, hello, Lizzie." She gave a weak smile before closing her eyes yet again. Lizzie came over and put her front legs on Cera's nose and gently pushed.

"You okay?"

Cera opened her eyes. "Of course I am, Liz. Now will you leave me be?" Cera looked away.

Lizzie shook her head. "Littlefoot told me you blame yourself for what happened. Why?"

"Why?" The threehorn's eyes filled with rage. "Because that stupid sharptooth killed Dusty and I could have stopped him!" The tinysaur took a step back, eyes wide with shock. Cera realized what she did, and let out a soft sigh. "Sorry, Liz..."

The tinysaur smiled inwardly. "That's okay, Cera." She walked right up to Cera's head, and nestled beside her. "It's okay to feel responsible, but it wasn't your fault." Before Cera could answer, Lizzie continued, "After all, how were you to know something like that was going to happen? How were you to know that Dusty would've gone above ground at that time? How were you to know that the sharptooth would be there?"

Cera hesitated for several moments. "Well...I..."

"You're not the only one who misses Dusty, Cera. We all do." Lizzie tried to hide her tears. "My father and I...we both miss her, very much. And so do my other siblings." She closed her eyes, and finally let the tears flow down her cheeks. She then looked up at Cera again. "But you cannot keep blaming yourself for what happened."

The threehorn couldn't give an answer. Instead, she simply looked away. She looked as though she was ignoring Lizzie, but in reality she was pondering her words. Perhaps Lizzie was right. Maybe she was being too hard on herself.

"I just wish I could've done something, though." She said sullenly.

"You're doing it again." Lizzie said a bit sternly.

Cera glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"You're blaming yourself again. Listen, Cera, sometimes bad things happen and we can't do anything to change it." Lizzie was surprised at her own words, and decided to relax a little. "Dwelling on the past won't solve anything. All you can do is change the future."

Cera looked at the ground, then at Lizzie, then at the sky. She could see the rustling leaves in distant trees, and she could see that the sun had disappeared behind the mountain. After several silent minutes, she finally rotated her eyes in Lizzie's direction.

"I suppose you are right, Liz. I couldn't do anything about it. None of us could."

Lizzie smiled. "I hope you feel better soon."

Cera smiled. "Yeah."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a frantic Ducky. She came bursting in between two closely grown trees. "Cera! Lizzie!" She cried frantically as she dashed towards him.

Cera rose off the ground. "Ducky...?"

Ducky skidded and came to a stop in front of the young threehorn and tinysaur. She heaved in large breaths with difficulty, trying to calm down her speeding heart beat. "It's...it's...it's..." But she couldn't spit out the words.

Lizzie jumped off the ground and shouted, "What? What is it!"

Ducky opened her eyes. "It's Petrie."

Cera tilted her head. "What about him?"

"He's missing!"

Cera and Lizzie's brains registered with shock. "He's missing!" They cried in unison.

Ducky nodded, coughing into her hands. "Yes yes yes. I went to his nest to greet him, and he wasn't there!" She clenched her hands into fists. "There was no trace of him anywhere near the nest! It was as if he just... disappeared."

Lizzie and Cera looked at each other. "Disappeared...?"

Cera took a step forward. "Are you sure he's missing? Maybe he's just going to get a drink or something..."

But Ducky shook her head. "Even if that had been the reason for him not being there, I was waiting around there for a long time, yep yep yep. He never came back." She looked crestfallen. "I'm worried. Maybe he's lost somewhere."

Cera scoffed. "How could anyone get lost in the Great Valley?"

Lizzie stared angrily at her. "You'd be surprised."

Cera smiled nervously. "Whoops." She grinned. "Sorry."

"We must look for him. Yes yes yes." Ducky suggested. "I already told Littlefoot and Spike about it. They're off searching for him as I speak, yep yep yep."

Lizzie cleared her throat. "Should we help?"

Ducky nodded. "That would be of great help, guys. Spike and Littlefoot are searching there." She pointed west. "I'm gonna search there. "She pointed east. "And you guys can search there for a start. "She pointed north.

Cera and Lizzie nodded. "We're on it!" She lowered her head down and let Lizzie jump on. She stomped off towards the north part of the valley.

Ducky gave a small smile. "Thanks..." She whispered. "I must start searching myself, yep yep yep." She headed off into the east part of the valley. By splitting up, they would cover more ground. But Ducky realized, as Cera and Lizzie disappeared into the forest, that by splitting up, they would become more vulnerable to a sharptooth attack.

And as she made her way through the forest, she did not notice a set of footprints, nor did she realize that a set of eyes were watching her...


	6. Interruption

Part I: The Mystery

A few branches were pushed down, snapping sometimes, and falling to the floor as a swimmer walked slowly through the thick forest. Vines hung lowly, and nearly tangled her in their path. She struggled, and managed to snap the vines with her hands. "There are so many green hangy thingies, yep yep yep..." She lowered her head to duck under a low hanging branch.

She suddenly stopped. Something didn't feel right. She rose her head in the air, and took in a few breaths through her nose. She sniffed the air, first in one direction, then another. "Hmm...that's strange. I could've sworn I smelled something." She shrugged, and continued walking along the narrow path produced by a large spiketail dragging its tail along.

There was a low growl that crept into the still air. Ducky froze in her tracks, body stiff. "Wh-Who's there...?"

Then she heard it, a dark chuckling voice, a hideous growling voice in the darkness. She whipped around to come face to face with the same sharptooth that attacked her a few nights ago. "You...?" She trembled, backing away.

The sharptooth had blue skin, with pale blue belly and snout. He had 3 claws on each hand, two horns on his head, and dark blue fins on his back. As he walked toward Ducky, he licked his lips. "Yes, it's me, Ducky." He grinned.

Ducky's breathing was quickening. "But how do you know me...?"

The sharptooth narrowed his eyes. "You mean you don't remember me?" Ducky shook her head. The sharptooth snarled. "How could you forget me!"

Ducky cringed at the sharptooth's outburst. "I-I-Is it bad I forgot...?"

He narrowed his eyes. The pupils narrowed as well. "In a way, yes..." He stomped forward a few steps. Ducky continued backing away. She couldn't help but realize that this sharptooth did look familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The sharptooth shook his head. "But then again, I see it won't matter anyway..." His voice trailed off for a few seconds, then he spoke again, "Since you're going to be my lunch today..."

Ducky's eyes widened with horror. "No..no..no..." She starting backing up quickly, the sharptooth keeping in advance with every step.

"Yes..yes..yes..." The sharptooth taunted, opening his large mouth full of lots of pointy, sharp teeth ready to clamp down on the swimmer's young body.

Ducky turned around and ran.

"You won't escape me this time, swimmer!" He charged after her, his loud stomps shaking the ground.

Cera and Lizzie suddenly stopped their search for Petrie when they heard an ear-piercing scream coming from where Ducky had headed. "Ducky!" They shouted together. Cera turned around and charged towards the scream.

"Hurry, Cera! The sharptooth probably got to her!" Lizzie shouted.

Cera rolled her eyes. "Don't you think I know that?"

Lizzie didn't answer as they charged as fast as they could toward's the direction of Ducky's scream.

The sharptooth snapped at Ducky's hindquarters, barely missing by an inch! Ducky screamed again, tried to speed up. The sharptooth growled in frustration, and snapped again. He was so close to getting her that Ducky had to pick her leg up in the air and give the sharptooth a kick to the head.

Not a good idea, as Ducky found out the hard way. The sharptooth's skull was pretty hard. It was like kicking a rock. The sharptooth didn't seem to feel it, and continued charging, mouth wide open.

Ducky looked desperately for a way to lose the sharptooth. She looked for an escape route, but didn't find any. The paths were either to tangled to outrun the sharptooth or they had nothing useful to hide in. "I've...got...to...lose..him..." She panted.

"I've got you!" The sharptooth lunged forward with his jaws, trying to bite her neck! Ducky shrieked, and ducked. She then headbutted the meat-eater under his chin, causing him to topple backwards a little. Ducky took this advantage and ran off.

The sharptooth wasn't dazed for long. He shook it off, and growled angrily. "Nice try, but it wasn't good enough, swimmer!" The chase was on again.

Ducky was running a little slower, thinking she had lost the sharptooth. She was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. Her tongue stuck out to the side, and her eyes were partway closed. She then slowed to a walk, and leaned against an old tree.

"At least...I lost...the sharptooth..." She panted breathlessly.

"Oh, you really think so?" Her eyes grew big, and before she had any time at all to react, a hard head slammed into her side, knocking her across the ground. She coughed painfully, and looked up. It was the sharptooth again. He grinned as he walked slowly towards her. Ducky didn't have the strength to get up. She struggled a little, but fell back down. The blow to her side must've broken a few of her ribs.

"Please...don't..." She asked pleadingly.

"You know how it is, Ducky. Sharpteeth kill to eat, and you are what we kill..." He opened his jaws and started to lower them towards her neck to finish her off. Ducky closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the immense pain to come, but it never did...

The sharptooth cried out in pain as something slammed into his side. He fell to the floor, and quickly climbed back to his feet again. "Who dares interfere!" He snarled angrily. He took one look at Cera, and growled hatefully. "You..."

Lizzie ran towards Ducky as Cera stood her ground, brandishing her horns in front of the sharptooth. "Yeah, me!" She kicked dirt in the air with her front legs, and lowered her head. "And what are you doing hurting my friend?" She charged forward.

The sharptooth chuckled, and stood off to the side at the last second. The threehorn looked bewildered. She thought sharpteeth were supposed to be stupid. "How did you..." But she was cut off as the sharptooth raised his foot and kicked her in the side. The threehorn toppled over, and crashed into the earth.

"We sharptooth are not as dumb as you leaf-eaters think we are." He hissed through clenched teeth. "We are actually smarter than you."

Cera struggled to her feet. "Oh yeah...? We'll see about that!" She charged again. This time, as the sharptooth made the move, Cera twisted her head over, and managed to barely slice the sharptooth's side. The meat-eater cried out in pain, and stared at the thin gash the threehorn just made.

Cera smiled. "See?"

The sharptooth grinned. "That was...pretty good. But not good enough!" This time, it was his turn to make the first move. His body lowered and mouth opened, he charged towards the horned dinosaur. This time, he lowered his and met her horns with his own. They stayed locked for several minutes, then let go.

Lizzie watched in horror was Cera took on the seemingly intelligent sharptooth. "Oh Cera..."

"You're not so bad yourself..." Cera said before charged again. The sharptooth barely dodged. He opened his mouth and snapped at Cera, but she dodged.

The sharptooth lowered his head and ran towards the plant-eater. He pretended to charge her head. This would throw her off guard. As Cera tried to meet his charge with her own, he quickly manuevered himself over, and slammed one of his horns into her shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Cera cried out in agony. Blood poured out of the wound, and she felt her leg buckle and she fell to the side. She glared at the sharptooth. "That...was...a dirty trick..."

"So was that move you made earlier." He eyed the gash on his side, still bleeding. He walked over, lifted his foot, and slashed Cera in the side. She cried out in pain once again, tears dripping from her eyes.

Ducky struggled to her feet. "No...leave her alone!"

Lizzie started running over. "Cera!" She felt herself being held back by Ducky. "Let me go! I gotta help her!"

Ducky held onto Lizzie as she managed to get on her feet. "Sharptooth! Leave her alone!" She tried to sound tough, but in reality, she felt scared.

The sharptooth took one look at Ducky, and grinned. "Leave her alone? Why should I...?" He lowered his head towards Cera's neck, and opened his jaws. "It's time I stop her interference once and for all."

Ducky ran over, shouting, "NO!" She slammed into the sharptooth, knocking him down. Angry, he kicked her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain. "Oo..." She moaned.

"Perhaps I should get rid of you instead..." He opened his mouth to attack, but stopped. And then he gave an eerie smile. "No...not yet." He lifted his foot and kicked Ducky in the head, knocking her out cold.

"Now where was I? Oh yes..." He walked towards Cera, who still laid on the floor, gasping for air. He felt something striking him lightly on his foot. He looked down and spotted a tinysaur. He licked his chops. "Another snack..." He bent down, and sank his teeth into the animal's body.

"No...Liz..." Cera coughed up blood. It wasn't long before the sharptooth swallowed Lizzie in front of Cera's eyes.

"Now for you..." He bent down, and the last thing Cera saw was a set of teeth. The sharptooth clamped his jaws on Cera's head. A sudden wave of pain filled Cera's mind. Then a crushing sound, like something splitting bone open. Then, suddenly, the pain was gone, and darkness engulfed her.

* * *

Somewhere else a dark grey sickleclaw opened his eyes. "The threehorn and another tinysaur are gone." This caught the attention of who was right on his side, a dark brown longneck.

"Are you sure?"

The sickleclaw only nodded saddly "Yeah. I can't feel then anymore."


	7. Like To Kill

Part I: The Mystery

(A/N) The reason for this chapter being so short was because I didn't have many ideas for this chapter, so I'm just going to keep it short.)

Ducky closed her eyes tightly, thinking that now that Cera was gone, there was nothing that could stop the sharptooth from killing her too. The sharptooth looked at her hungrily, and walked forward, prepared to slice his teeth into her flesh as well.

"NO!" Came a loud voice, and a long tail lashed out of nowhere and struck the hunter in his side, knocking him down. Ducky looked, surprised, and found Littlefoot standing there, teeth clenched together. The sharptooth, surprised to find another challenger, struggled to his feet. He raised his horned head towards the longneck and snarled.

"Littlefoot? I'm surprised to see you here." He smiled.

Littlefoot turned his head, and noticed Cera's dead body. Eyes wide with shock, he muttered, "Cera...? No..." He closed his eyes and let a couple of tears fall through, and then he gave the sharptooth a look that could kill if it had the power to. "You... Why are you doing this...?" He took a step forward. "Sharpteeth are supposed to kill when they are hungry, but you...you do it whenever you please, don't you?"

The sharptooth grinned, exposing his long sharp teeth to the longneck. "Is that a problem, dear little longneck?" He tilted his head, the same dark smile on his snout. "After all, it is called 'survival of the fittest', is it not?"

"It doesn't mean you can kill anything anytime you want!" Littlefoot shouted.

The sharptooth chuckled. "My my, what a temper you have..." He shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should learn to control your temper."

But Littlefoot wasn't listening. He was so angry, he could've shot lasers from his eyes and killed the sharptooth. His body grew tense from the anger, his face turning red. "You like to kill...more than you like to eat..." He stared the sharptooth straight in the eye. "Isn't that right!" He shouted. He couldn't take his mind off what happened to Cera, Lizzie, and Dusty.

The predator grinned. "Control your anger. Stress is a killer."

Littlefoot's eyes widened. "So are you!"

"I guess there's no use in talking to you." He shrugged. He started to turn around and vanish into the forest once again, but Littlefoot called to him.

"Where do you think you're going!" He yelled. "I'm not finished here!"

The sharptooth shrugged. He looked back at Littlefoot, eyeing him through the backside of his red eye. "Well I am. You see, Littlefoot...I don't want to fight you, not yet..." His lips curled back into an evil snarl. "But I promise you that you and I will face one another...very soon." He chuckled. He disappeared into the forest.

As soon as he was gone, Littlefoot ran towards Ducky, and lowered his head. "Ducky, are you okay?"

Ducky glared at him. "Do I look okay?"

"Uhh...no..." Littlefoot muttered.

"I still haven't found Petrie..." Ducky said, hoping to draw Littlefoot's mind away from what happened to Cera.

Littlefood answered, "Not surprised. Spike and I couldn't find him either."

The swimmer struggled to her feet, and leaned against Littlefoot for support. They started walking back towards their homes near the center of the valley. "Littlefoot? How did you know where I was?"

Littlefoot smiled slightly. "I followed the screams."

Ducky chuckled a little. "That loud, huh?"

"Booming." Littlefoot said.

As they headed towards the center of the valley, they were greeted by Spike. He had his head low, as if something was wrong. Littlefoot and Ducky approached him as quickly as they could.

"Spike?" Ducky asked, staring at her step-brother.

"Hi, Ducky..." His voice trailed off. He shuffled his feet, and eyed Ducky and Littlefoot. "Topsy want you."

Littlefoot and Ducky were taken aback. "What?"

Spike nodded. "Yes. He want to see you. Messa dinks it very important." He pointed his head towards where Mr. Threehorn was waiting. Littlefoot and Ducky looked at each other, and started walking towards that direction, joined by Spike.

Littlefoot started wondering what Mr. Threehorn wanted with him. It couldn't possibly be about Cera's death. It just happened. And he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Maybe it was about the sharptooth incidents. That must be it.

As they were approaching the center of the valley where they held the meeting, Littlefoot could see Mr. Threehorn standing right there, looking at him. And by the looks of his face, he didn't look very happy, not happy at all...


	8. A Traitor of Reluctance

Part I: The Mystery

Mr. Threehorn could sense their nervousness. In a soft voice, he said, "I'm not angry. Just concerned."

Littlefoot and Ducky sighed with relief. "Concerned? About what?"

The old threehorn lowered his head and sighed. "About Cera. I heard her scream, and I heard the sharptooth's roar." He shook his head. "I sure hope she's all right..."

"Yeah well...about Cera..." Ducky's voice trailed off.

Topsy lifted his head. "She was killed?" He asked, as if he knew already what they were going to tell him.

Littlefoot nodded. "Yes. I found her body in the eastern part of the valley. Looked as if it was a quick battle."

Now it was Ducky's turn to speak. "She died protecting me." She said shamefully. Spike looked at her. He could feel the pain that was growing inside Ducky's heart. He couldn't blame her. Maybe it would've been better if they all just sticked together, just like they had in the past.

Topsy's expression changed from stunned, to horror, to anguish, then to anger! "You mean the reason the sharptooth got her was because you were moping around!" He shouted at Ducky, stunning the swimmer. "Why you no good...!"

Littlefoot jumped in the threehorn's path. "Don't you dare blame her!" He boldy faced the threehorn. He may be old, but old age wasn't a hinder to the dinosaur.

Mr. Threehorn cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, then I suppose it's you to blame."

"No! Ducky wasn't moping around. She was searching for Petrie!"

For a few seconds, there was nothing but an erie silence among the group. "Well still," Threehorn said, breaking the silence, "she should've fought the sharptooth."

"He was too strong." Ducky said. "I mean that sharptooth took down a threehorn like she was a baby swimmer! How do you think I would fare against something like that?"

Littlefoot nodded. "That's right, Mr. Threehorn." He eyed the old dinosaur challengingly. "Cera chose to sacrifice her life to save Ducky's. It's not like she didn't try to save Cera."

Topsy seemed to cool down a little, but there was still a hint of rage in his eyes. "All right, but..." He growled. He was stopped though, as an old female threehorn stepped in from behind.

"Now now, Topsy. No need to get too worked up." The female threehorn said, smiling grimly as she approached her mate. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Tria..." Topsy started, "...did you hear what happened?"

Tria nodded slowly. "Yes, I overheard everything. Poor Cera..." She shook her head. "But blaming Ducky and Littlefoot will not change what happened, Topsy, and you know that."

"I know, but..."

"But nothing. Danger's lurking around! This is no time to be blaming others for deaths!" Tria yelled at her old mate.

Littlefoot, Spike, and Ducky watched the two old threehorns.

"Who do you think will win?" asked Littlefoot.

"Messa bet on oldy threehorn." Spike said almost happily.

"I think Tria will win, yep yep yep."

"Yeah, well I think..." Suddenly a loud roar clashed through the forest, followed by a blood-curtling scream. Littlefoot raised his head to look in the direction of the sound. The threehorns became silent. Ducky and Spike looked nervously in the direction their friend was looking in.

Ducky murmured softly, "Littlefoot...? What was that...?"

Spike shuddered. "Messa not know..."

"I think I know..." Littlefoot said gravely. "The sharptooth's gotten to Shorty..."

About a month ago, Bron's herd had moved into the great valley. From what Bron said, there was a horrible falling rock incident which destroyed their valley. Only a small fraction of the herd, including Bron and Shorty, managed to get out alive. Littlefoot welcomed the herd with open arms, estatic to see his father and stepbrother again.

Littlefoot raced through the forest, followed closely by Spike and Ducky. "We've...got...to...hurry...!"

They finally came to a clearing, and stopped as they saw a huge pool of blood! Horror registered in their minds as they found Shorty, laying on his side. His stomach was ripped wide open, spilling his intestines across the floor. Bloody gashes were present on his front legs, and blood poured heavily from his mouth. The stench of flesh decaying was already sticking to the still air. Flies were buzzing around the open wound in Short's side.

"Shorty...no..." Littlefoot whispered. He walked to his brother's side. Ducky and Spike stepped back, watching as Littlefoot tried to wake his mortally wounded brother. After a few failed attempts, Shorty's eyes slowly opened. They were glassy and unfocused, and it looked as if he was blind. His pupils were dull gray instead of black.

"L-Littlefoot...? Is that you...?" He choked.

"Yes." Littlefoot nuzzled Shorty's head gently. "What happened here...?"

Shorty wheezed painfully. "I was just...just grazing the trees, minding my own...b-bu-business. Th-Then suddenly, a sharptooth attack-attack-attacked m-m-me." He breathed in heavily. "H-H-He demanded t-t-to know wh-where your f-f-f-father was..."

"My father...?" Littlefoot gasped. "Why?"

"I-I don't know..." Shorty choked out. "B-But when I didn't tell him, he-he did this to-to me." He moaned in agony. "So..strong..."

"Shhh..." Littlefoot whispered as he once again brought his head to Shorty's.

The longneck wheezed, and gasped for air. His dull eyes rolled back inside his head, and his body become limp. Littlefoot pulled himself away, and stared at Shorty's body for several minutes. Ducky and Spike slowly approached their friend, being extremely cautious.

"L-Littlefoot...?"

The longneck didn't answer. Instead he lowered his head and started crying. Ducky tried to say something, but nothing came to mind. She watched helplessly as Littlefoot cried over Shorty's body.

Finally Littlefoot looked up at the skies, and yelled into the skies, his cry of anguish echoing throughout the Great Valley. When he was finally done, he heaved in heavy breaths of air, a look of anger and hatred in his eyes.

"Um...Littlefoot?" Spike asked nervously.

"He'll pay..." He gritted his teeth. "He'll pay! He's going to stop this now!"

Spike and Ducky couldn't do anything except watch Littlefoot stomp away. They reluctantly followed him, unsure of what was going to happen next.

"I hope he'll be okay." Ducky said softly.

"Messa hope so too." Spike whispered, walking beside his stepsister.

"And we still haven't found Petrie. Nope nope nope..." Her voice trailed off. "I hope he's okay as well. Hopefully he escaped the sharptooth."

Spike only nodded.

* * *

Somewhere, miles away, the sharptooth was walking through towards the exit of the valley. He started climbing up the wall, struggling to hang onto something in one of his hands. The little creature squirmed, but could not escape the thick leaf it was tied in. "Put me down!" It shouted angrily.

"Shut up yourself, or I will eat you right now!" The sharptooth growled, shaking the leaf harshly.

As he finally made it out of the valley, he came across the cave that he was hiding in. It was the same cave where Ozzy and Strut used to live, and the same cave where Littlefoot encountered the egg stealers. The egg stealers no longer lived there, and the sharptooth soon called it home. It was convenient. It was right next to the valley, and nobody would suspect to search in this cave.

The meat-eater stepped into the darkness of the cave. He sniffed the air. "Come on out, you guys." He said.

"Put me down!" Annoyed, the sharptooth threw it into the dark shadows. Something winged emerged and tried to fly away. Before it could even enter the light, something bigger knocked it down. It grabbed it with its clawed feet and pushed it into the ground.

"Let me have him! Let me have him!" A female voice shouted excitedly.

"No! You know what the boss says." The other voice was male.

"Aww...Ichy, that's not fair!"

"Sorry, Dil." Ichy the sharpbeak spoke, poking his head into the light. "We have to do what he says. After all, he was nice enough to share some of his kills with us."

The bellydragger emerged from the darkness. She and Ichy were clearly older. Dil had lost some of her teeth, and was slower than before. Ichy's black feathers were now gray. "I still want a piece of him." She eyed the flying creature pinned down by Ichy.

"Now now," the adolescent sharptooth said, approaching them. "No need to be arguing. You two will get some action soon enough."

Ichy grinned. "Sure, boss! I can't wait to rip out one of those no good kids' throats!"

"In due time, in due time." The sharptooth grinned evilly. "But I shouldn't be the hero here." He looked towards a section of the cave where the shadows were not to dark. "After all, I'm not the one who found this cave, and found this entrance to the valley. Isn't that right?" He stepped to the side.

Emerging from the shadows was a young female longneck. Her blue eyes bore the look of shame, lowering her head as she walked into the light. The flying creature spotted the longneck, and seemed to gasp in shock.

"...Ali...?"


	9. Slave

Part I: The Mystery

Ali noticed the captive. "Petrie...?" She took a step forward.

The sharptooth eyed the bellydragger and sharpbeak. He nodded his head once, and the two disappeared into the darkness. The sharptooth glared at Ali warningly, "Don't even think about leaving." The longneck cringed. He just smiled and walked off. He didn't have much to worry about. Ali knew the punishment if she dared try to leave the cave.

As soon as they were gone, the flying creature, positively identified as Petrie, flapped over to the young longneck. "Ali, what you doing here? Me thought you left." Ali's herd had visited not too long ago. Petrie was surprised to see her here, with the sharpteeth.

"I was 'bout to ask you the same thing." The female longneck replied, leveling her neck to be eye level with the flyer. "You shouldn't be here." She whispered almost harshly.

"Heh." Petrie rolled his eyes. "Not like me wanted to be here..."

"How did you get here?"

"Me no know. Just fell asleep a few days ago, and woke up somewhere else. Sharptooth take me here." He flew up and landed on Ali's head. "How you get here?"

Ali closed her eyes. "I'd...rather not talk about it."

Petrie cocked his head. "Why not?"

"Just...I don't know..." She murmured softly. "The sharptooth who took you... Well I wondered away from my herd, and...he found me." Petrie nodded his head, waiting for her to continue. "He captured me, and forced me to reveal the weak spot in the Great Wall..." Petrie's eyes widened. "He told me he'd kill me if I didn't..."

Petrie didn't know what to say. A part of him was angry with her for having betrayed the Great Valley. But the other part felt sorry for her, being forced to work for an insane and unnatural sharptooth. He decided to speak up. "Why don't we make a run for it?" Petrie suggested, eyeing the cave entrance.

"NO!" Ali shouted, scaring the flyer. "We...I must not leave. He...he'll kill me if I do..."

"Who?" He asked, standing up. "Who will kill you?"

Ali whispered the name. As Petrie leaned in to hear it, as he heard the name, his eyes were filled with terror and disbelief. "N-no...he wouldn't...not him..."

* * *

Littlefoot walked alone along the forest path. The death of Shorty was devasting for him. And it gave him even more reason to seek out and stop this mad dinosaur. But he wasn't sure what to do if he ran into the sharptooth. He couldn't figure out just what to do...

The breeze picked up, and carried with it a scent. Littlefoot tensed up, and looked around. "Who's there?" When no one answered, he shrugged. "Probably just the wind."

He brushed it aside and continued walking along. Then he heard a cracking sound of a twig nearby. He nearly jumped out of his skin! "Who's there!" He shouted, louder this time. But his only reply was the sound of rustling leaves and the cawing of birds nearby. He growled softly, and continued walking. He whispered to himself, looking behind him, "It's probably that sharptooth..."

A laughter ran out! Littlefoot screamed and took off running. He could hear the footfalls of the pursuer behind him. Littlefoot just kept running. The pursuer laughed and yelled excitedly.

"Where are you going!" The voice asked. Littlefoot refused to answer. He could feel the sharptooth getting closer and closer. He could almost feel his breath on the back of his long neck...

"Gotcha!" The creature pounced him! The two rolled across the floor. Littlefoot yelped and used his long tail to strike the sharptooth away. The dinosaur rolled across the floor and hit a nearby large tree. He moaned a little, and shook his head. "Hey! What's the big idea!" He yelled angrily, slowly getting up.

Littlefoot turned around and finally got a glimpse of what was chasing him. He was shocked to see it wasn't the insane sharptooth. It was his friend, Rex!

(A/N Yes, I did get permission from Sora W.T.K to use Rex.)

"Rex! Is that you?" He gaped.

The dinosaur, identified as Rex, brushed himself off. He opend his wings wide, and smiled. "Yep, it's me."

Littlefoot sighed with relief. "Thank goodness it's just you.. I thought you were..." His voice stopped.

Rex tilted his head. "Hmm? What's the matter?" He detected the look of hurt on Littlefoot's face. "What happened?"

Littlefoot looked at Rex. He wasn't sure where to begin. "Want me to tell you the full story?"

The flying dinosaur nodded.

"All right... it started like this." Littlefoot started to explain the story. Rex listened intently to every word Littlefoot was saying.

* * *

Back in the cave, the sharptooth had returned. Ali was ordered to climb the mountain wall and search for Littlefoot. Petrie was taken by the sharptooth after he learned his true identity. "Put me down!" The flyer yelled angrily.

The sharptooth grinned, his teeth glinting in what little light the cave gave them. "So you know the truth, don't ya...?" He laughed. "Too bad the others didn't."

Petrie snarled. "Don't you dare hurt them! Or me will..."

"Or you'll what...?" The sharptooth said tauntingly. "In that puny size, you couldn't save even an egg."

Petrie fumed, but curiousity grew in him. "Me want to know one thing..."

The sharptooth cocked an eyebrow. "And that is...?"

"Why did you betray us...?"


	10. Confrontation in the Cave

Part I: The Mystery

"What!" Rex cried out, his dark blue eyes registering sheer horror. Littlefoot had just told Rex about the series of murders that have been taking place. "H-How...?" He was almost afraid to find out.

Littlefoot bowed his head a little, eyes closed tightly. "A sharptooth..."

"What..?"

"A sharptooth! He-He somehow came in here...somehow found a way into the valley!" Littlefoot cried out in agony. Rex stepped back, giving his friend a bit of room. Littlefoot panted a few times, trying to calm himself down. "I-I'm sorry I snapped..."

Rex smiled faintly. "It's all right. I understand your pain."

"Thanks... anyway, where was I?"

Rex said, "You were telling me about the sharptooth finding a way in..." He winced, thinking it would make Littlefoot snap again.

However, this time, it didn't. "Oh yes." Littlefoot gulped. "The sharptooth came in only a few days ago, and already has caused so much grief..."

Rex narrowed his eyes. "Like what?"

"Almost killing Ducky, killing Cera, killing two tinysauruses, and then..." His voice trailed off as tears filled his eyes once more. "Killed Shorty..."

Rex clunched his hand in a fist. How dare that sharptooth do those things! How dare he! "I can't believe someone could be so...so cold-hearted!" He cried, tears of pain and hatred streaming down his face. The tear from his right eye stung the scars that snaked down his face. They still slightly hurt, as the area had never completely healed.

Littlefoot opened his eyes. "Apparently, he can." He looked at Rex, noticing the tears in his dark eyes. "That sharptooth loves to kill...loves to kill more than eat. He-He's not a normal sharptooth..."

Rex blinked. "Not normal? Likes to kill more...? Yeah, that's definitely not a normal sharptooth personality."

Littlefoot turned and looked away. He looked at the Smoking Mountain. It hadn't erupted in months. It hadn't even started smoking. Dinosaurs in the valley were considering changing the name. But Littlefoot refused to believe the threat of an eruption was gone. A dormant volcano was like an earthquake. One can never know when the next disaster will occur.

Rex at first didn't say anything. He too looked at the Smoking Mountain. He had been told of the disaster it could bring whenever it erupted. Rex then eyed Littlefoot. For a long minute, neither of them said anything. Neither of them moved. Rex opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't really think of anything to say at all.

"They say the Smoking Mountain might never erupt again. I don't believe that." Littlefoot said, breaking the silence.

Rex shook his head. "Neither do I. It's unpredictable."

* * *

In a distant place: a crystalline lake with a light scent of minds in the air, a dinosaur opened her eyes. It was a two-crested swimmer. She had a worried look and said.

"You couldn't be more right, young dracovol."

* * *

Back in the forest, Ducky and Spike had been wandering for hours. They didn't know where they were going. They didn't know why they were going. They just felt the need to go for a walk. It probably would take their minds off what was happening lately. But no matter what, something tugged at their minds, telling them the horrible things that occured, the harsh reality of death.

"Oh, I don't like this, no no no." Ducky chirped, hugging herself as she looked cautiously around her. She had no idea of the sharptooth was close by or not. It paid to be careful.

"Messa understand pain. No want Ducky to be sad." Spike said softly. While his grammar was bad, it was soothing to Ducky, especially after seeing Cera and Lizzie killed right before her eyes.

Ducky smiled. "I know, Spike." She sighed. "Just hard...to take your mind off horrible events, especially when they are happening to those you care about, yep yep yep."

Spike nuzzled his head against Ducky, and whimpered. "No be sad. It get better, messa know it."

Ducky almost glared at her step brother. "How can you say that?" She snapped.

Spike didn't look fazed. "Messa know it look bad, but it get better, better with time." He took a step back. "Sharptooth be stopped, yes. It will be stopped."

Ducky cocked her head. "What makes you think that?"

He smiled. "Messa just know."

Ducky smiled. It helped her feel a little better.

* * *

Back near the smoking mountain, Littlefoot and Rex had started to talk a walk as well. Littlefoot was leading Rex to where Shorty had been killed. His body was still there. The flesh was rotting off, and much of bone was exposed. Littlefoot wanted to throw up as he saw maggots in his brother's eyes, having eaten away his eyes. Flies came from his mouth, and beetles were squirming inside the skin to feed on the dead flesh.

Overhead, a large crestless flyer dove down. Dinosaurs in the valley call it deathtooth, since it only fed on the dead. The large flyer poked its beak and tore off a piece of flesh, swallowing it whole. Soon, two more deathteeth showed up. They began fighting with each other over the best dead meat.

Littlefoot felt rage fill his mind once more. It wasn't the scavengers that had him so angry. It was the fact of how this had happened to Shorty. And he couldn't save him. "I couldn't save him..."

Rex winced at the sight of the scavengers eating away the young animal's body, and turned towards Littlefoot. "It wasn't your fault..."

"And what makes you think that?" Littlefoot asked angrily.

"You couldn't have known something like that would happen." Rex replied.

Littlefoot suddenly remembered how Cera blamed herself for Dusty's death, even though she couldn't have done anything to save her. Now Littlefoot knew what Cera had gone through.

"You're right..." Littlefoot softly spoke. "It's just..so painful..." He closed his eyes.

"Death is always painful." Rex cooed. "You cannot change the past." He thought for a moment. "And you know, Littlefoot?"

Littlefoot opened his eyes once more. "What?"

"I'll find him...I'll find that sharptooth..." He said angrily, his eyes flashing the hatred he felt for the sharptooth.

Littlefoot nodded. "We'll find him together."

* * *

Back in the cave, Petrie was holding onto Ali's neck. The sharptooth had gotten extremely angry for some unknown reason when Petrie had asked him why he betrayed them. The sharptooth had chased Petrie for hours and it took Ali's begging to make him stop. The petrified Petrie clung to Ali, shaking.

"What? Me was only asking..." He stammered.

"SILENCE!" The sharptooth shouted. The entire cave seemed to have trembled in fear. Even Ichy and Dil were afraid. "You dare ask why I betrayed you...? Why is it any of your business, little one?"

Petrie gulped. "B-Because...we were...we were good friends..."

Ali spoke up. "Would it hurt to tell your tale?"

The sharptooth snarled viciously, and then became silent. The longneck did prove a point. It wouldn't change anything if he told the flyer or not. He grinned. The flyer wouldn't even be able to leave the cave. "All right then, Petrie. You want to know my tale?"

The flyer nodded, but didn't speak.

"All right then... Dil! Ichy!" He shouted.

"Yes?" They asked, walking cautiously towards their leader.

"Keep an eye out for intruders." The bellydragger and sharpbeak nodded once and they went over to the cave entrance. It was possible that someone might start searching outside the valley for the sharptooth.

"Anyway, how should I begin my story...?" The sharptooth was wondering. Petrie and Ali waited for him to continue. "Oh yes... my story begin..."

Suddenly there was a loud crash! The sharptooth, Ali, and Petrie looked to see Rex attacking the bellydragger, sending her flying back. Littlefoot showed up and used his tail to knock Ichy out cold. The bellydragger struggled to get up, but Rex kicked her in the stomach, knocking her out.

"Ali...? Petrie...?" Littlefoot asked, bewildered. He ignored the evil sharptooth and ran towards them. "How did..." He stammered.

Rex stormed towards the sharptooth, who had his back turned to him. "All right, whoever you are, how dare you...!" But he didn't complete his sentence. The sharptooth turned around, and as soon as he did, Rex felt his heart stop.

"N-No...it can't be...not you..." He stepped back, shaking.

"Oh yes it can..." The sharptooth grinned, advancing forward. He snapped two of his claws. Almost instantly the bellydragger got up and used her powerful tail to deliver a painful blow to Rex's side. The omnivore screamed in pain as he was tossed back. He slammed against the wall. Dil licked her lips and lunged forward to his prone body.

Ali gasped. "Littlefoot!"

Littlefoot noticed what was going on, and rushed forward. "No, not again!" He said through gritted teeth. He ran in front of Rex, blocking Dil's path. She snarled, but back down. She knew she couldn't defeat Littlefoot now, at least not without help. She smiled coldly as Ichy perched on her head.

"You think you troublemakers will make it out alive this time?" He chirped, ruffling his gray crest on his head. "You know how long I've waited to get a chance at revenge, kiddo?"

Littlefoot glared at him. "I'm not a kid! Not anymore."

Ichy chuckled coldly. "You're still a kid to us." He licked his beak. "A delicious kid meal, in fact..."

Littlefoot snarled. He almost attacked when the sharptooth blocked his path. Littlefoot growled angrily as his eyes met the sharptooth's. An evil grin came across the sharptooth's lips.

"I can sense your hatred." He smirked.

"Littlefoot...there is something you should know..." Rex coughed as he was coming to.

Littlefoot forgot about the sharptooth and turned to his friend. "What is it?"

"I know who that is..." Rex coughed, struggling to his feet. "And you should, too."

The sharptooth, bellydragger, and sharpbeak just watched as Littlefoot let his curiousity take over. "What...? I...I should...? How?"

Rex glared at the sharptooth as though he felt betrayed. "Of course...after all...you hatched him."

Littlefoot's eyes went wide as memories flashed back to him. He looked at the sharptooth in horror. "No...no..." He whispered as the sharptooth curled his lip back, exposing his teeth.

"You remember me, don't you?" He purred evilly.

(A/N I guess that gives it away, eh? The sharptooth will be positively identified in the next chapter.)


	11. A Reason

Part I: The Mystery

"Chomper!" Littlefoot cried out, answering the horned sharptooth's question. In response, Chomper merely smiled, and purred once again in a menacing way.

(A/N The purring sound Chomper is making is very similar to the purring sound heard by the raptors of Dino Crisis.)

"Littlefoot! How did you find us?" Ali piped in.

"Rex helped us." Littlefoot noted, turning his neck to face his friend. "But what are you doing here, Ali?"

Chomper chuckled. "Isn't it obvious?" He cooed. "She helped me."

Littlefoot felt his heart skip a beat. "H-Helped...?" He looked at Ali. "You helped him...?" Ali didn't answer. She just couldn't answer. She just merely bowed her head in shame. "How? W-Why...?" Littlefoot managed to say, not believing yet another one of his friends is a traitor.

"Now now, Littlefoot." Littlefoot turned to glare at the blue sharptooth, now known as Chomper. "You shouldn't really be that mad..." He flexed the claws on his right hand. "After all, she only did it so I wouldn't do anything...drastic." He grinned.

Littlefoot rounded on Chomper. "What did you do!"

At first, Chomper's eyes registered fear. But that fear quickly drained into arogancy. "Why don't you ask her yourself...?" He sneered.

"No..." Littlefoot whispered. "No...Ali, why..?"

"He kidnapped me...forced me...I didn't want to...I didn't mean to..." Ali whispered, choking back tears. "I'm...I'm so sorry..."

Littlefoot glared at her for a few seconds. She winced as if she was struck, and backed away. Littlefoot's expression suddenly softened. The faintest hint of a smile showed up on his face. "I'm glad he didn't kill you."

"Awww..." Littlefoot turned his angry red eyes towards Ichy. The bird had an eerie smile on his beak. "Isn't that just touching?" He said sarcastically. "Two love dinos, reunited after all this time." His tone suddenly changed to disgust. "Yuck!"

Littlefoot shouted, "What's it to you, huh!" His tone softened. "What did you mean... love dinos?"

Ichy sneered. "It's pretty obvious you and her were a couple, with the way you two look at each other."

"Why you..." Littlefoot warned, but panicked when Dil opened her jaws and slammed shut close to him. She may had fewer teeth, but her bite was no less dangerous.

Chomper chuckled, recieving a glare from Rex. The winged dinosaur stomped towards the laughing sharptooth and struck him on the face! Chomper yelped, and could smell blood. A long thin cut snaked across his snout, looking very much like the wound his mother recieved back on the island, facing another horned sharptooth. Chomper snarled, and headbutted Rex! The omnivore fell on his side.

Chomper lifted his foot to kick him. But before he could, Littlefoot used his tail to knock Chomper down. "Don't you dare..." The longneck hissed.

The horned sharptooth sniggered softly. "You think you can threaten me...?" He took a step forward. "You really think you can scare me? With those small teeth of yours? Ha!" He laughed. He stopped after a few seconds, and glared seriously. "I think not..." His voice was a hiss.

* * *

Back in the Great Valley, Ducky and Spike continued walking. They hadn't talked for a while. They didn't know what else to talk about. Ducky's mind kept wandering, and Spike couldn't think of what to say anymore to help her.

"There they are!" They heard a voice shout. Ducky and Spike swerved to see Mr. Threehorn and Tria walking towards them. While Topsy had a frown on his face, it was a frown of seriousness, not a frown of anger. "Finally, we found you!"

Ducky gulped. "Anything wrong, Mr. Threehorn, sir?"

"Where's Littlefoot?"

Ducky shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen him in a while."

Mr. Threehorn shook his head. "I need to speak with him."

"Why?"

"Rumor has it that the sharptooth isn't working alone. I need to talk to Littlefoot and see if he knows anything about this."

Ducky looked confused. "Why would he know?"

"Hey, wouldn't hurt to ask!" He snapped.

Tria stepped forward. "Now, now, she was just asking a question." She looked at Ducky. "If you see Littlefoot, tell him to find Topsy, okay?"

Ducky and Spike nodded. The two threehorns disappeared back where they had come from. Ducky eyed Spike with a look of worry. "That sharptooth, having help...? If this is true...then..."

Spike gently nudged her. "No be sad. We find Littlefoot?"

Ducky nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

Back in the cave, Chomper, Ichy, and Dil all had cornered Littlefoot, Rex, Petrie, and Ali into one part of the cave. It was extremely dark, but they could smell each other and hear each other breathe. Littlefoot knew who was in front of him. Littlefoot and Rex stood in front of Ali and Petrie, using their bodies as a shield.

Chomper stepped up. "So, where was I...?"

Petrie swallowed. "You were about to tell us how you turn bad."

Chomper's eyes went wide, and he smiled. "Oh yes...that..."

"How could you betray us like this..." Littlefoot asked softly. "I thought we were friends."

The sharptooth's cold stare looked his way. "That's right. We were friends."

Littlefoot's mind was filling with so many questions. He was about to ask one of them when Chomper stepped forward one more time.

"Well do you or do you not want to know what happened to me?"

The four in the corner looked at each other, and looked back. They all gave a single nod. Chomper smirked. "Okay then, I will tell you my tale."

And so began the tale of Chomper's descent.

(A/N The next three chapters will tell of Chomper's past.)


	12. His Story part 1: A Tragedy

Part II: The Foreboding

(A/N In this chapter, the sharpteeth will be speaking english, not 'sharptooth'. ; )

On the mysterious island, it was raining lightly. As a light wind brushed against the tree, small droplets of water fell onto the puddles that were forming. Beetles and other insects started burrowing underground while frogs and worms were coming up, escaping the underground. The meat-eating flyers were hiding in their nests, afraid that a storm was coming.

"Yahoo!" A laughter ran through the thick isolated jungle island. A small figure sped through the forest, snapping at small insects that were flying in the air. None of them were captured, upsetting the figure. "Aw... man!" He moaned.

Chomper, a young little sharptooth, was exploring the jungle unsupervised by his parents. It had been quite some time after Littlefoot had left. Chomper missed him so much. Surprisingly to him, though, his parents also missed him. The small sharptooth remembered how his parents had told him that they never planned on harming Littlefoot because they realized that he was the one who protected him while in the valley, while most of the plant-eaters probably would've killed him.

A small frog hopped in front of the sharptooth. He growled a little. He was starting to get hungry. His parents were already hunting, but he wasn't sure if they'd get any food. The food supply on the island was dramatically dwindling. Chomper wondered if there were too many sharptooth on the island, upsetting the balance.

Drooling and too impatient to wait for his mom and dad, Chomper lunged at the frog, mouth wide open. He snapped down, but missed the frog. It jumped out of his way! Smiling darkly, Chomper continued on chasing the amphibian, snapping crazily and hungrily, trying to sink his teeth into its soft flesh.

The frog, luckily, was easy to spot. It was very brightly colored. It had a bright red body with large black eyes, small black spots, and black legs with a few motting of pale blue. It just made the frog look so much more appetizing!

The frog was finally cornered. Chomper smiled toothly, and stalked forward. The frog was trembling in fear, its black eyes wide with fear. The youngster lunged forward! Mouth wide open, and he was getting ready to slam shut.

"CHOMPER! NO!"

Chomper was startled as a mouth engulfed him and lifted him way up in the air. He was redirected far away from the frog, near where he had started running. The mouth opened up and released him. The kid looked up to see his mother's concerned face. She had seen what Chomper was doing, and luckily stopped him before it was too late.

"Mother? What's wrong?" Chomper asked.

His mother, whose name was Goldclaw, was panting from worry. "What were you doing!" She snapped angrily.

Chomper cringed. "I was only hunting, mother..."

Goldclaw shook her head. "Son, that was a poisonous prey. You could've been killed!"

(A/N I do not know if poisonous dart frogs existed at this time. ; )

"I'm sorry, mother." He cooed, rubbing his head against his mother's leg. She sighed, and gently nuzzled her son, purring.

"It's all right. At least you're safe."

The wind started to pick up a little. A few leaves were knocked off the trees. The rain picked up a little. Goldclaw lifted her head and sniffed the air. She didn't sense any true alarm, but she felt perhaps they should go locate where Sly, her mate, was.

"A storm seems to be coming our way, Chomper." She announced. "Follow me. Let us go find your father."

She looked back at him briefly. "He was hunting."

* * *

Where Sly was, he was looking for his mate. He couldn't find any food. "The prey must've head for shelter." He could sense an oncoming storm. "The prey is wise. Perhaps we should've stayed in our den until the storm has passed." Sly turned his snout towards the south, and sniffed. He caught the faintest hint of Goldclaw's scent. He turned to walk in that direction.

The wind blew harder now. It wasn't enough to knock down him, but it was strong enough to cause a few fallen logs to roll a little. This started to worry him. If the winds continued getting stronger, that would spell trouble for them. Stuck on an island, they had to place to run to! A sharptooth couldn't swim. If it was a hurricane, it would've been even worse.

"I gotta find them..." He growled softly. "Where could they be?"

Sly suddenly caught something moving in his eye. It was a shadow against the trees. It stood on two-legs. He squinted, and could see a smaller figure with it. His eyes brightened and a smile curled up on his snout. It had to be them!

"Goldclaw? Chomper?" He cried out.

The figures who were stepping out of the wet jungle were indeed his mate and child. Sly rushed towards them. "There you are!" He gasped. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Goldclaw said, "I was out looking for Chomper. Good thing I did." She slightly glared at the guilty Chomper.

Sly raised an eyebrow. "Why? What did he do?"

"He tried eating a poisonous frog." She said, rolling her red eyes.

Sly winced. "You must be hungrier than I thought, boy..."

Chomper nodded, smiling. "Speaking of being hungry, did you catch anything?"

The dark-colored sharptooth shook his head gravely. "Sorry, son." He sighed. "The prey must all be hiding underground or something." He looked at his mate. "We should do the same. A powerful storm is coming."

Goldclaw nodded. "I was thinking the same. As we searched for you, we noticed a few trees had already been knocked own." She closed her eyes. "That can't be a good sign..."

"It never is." Sly shook his head. "Hurry, we must go, now!"

Suddenly a flash of lightning and a thunder broke through the skies! The ground started shaking, as if it was struck. A brief moment of white flashed in the sharpteeth's eyes, blinding them for a few seconds. As soon as their sight returned, they realized that they were standing dangerously close to the edge of the island! Chomper realized that this was where he himself had fallen off. Memories of the horned sharptooth and swimming sharptooth flooded his mind. He clung to his mother's leg, and shivered.

Goldclaw licked his small body. "Shhh...it's all right, Chomper. We'll get out of here." She cooed.

Sly nodded, smiling a small smile. Suddenly a wind gushed their way. It was so powerful that it ripped trees form their roots! About five trees were rolling down their way! Sly gasped and shouted, "Run!"

Goldclaw saw the trees coming. At that speed, she knew she couldn't make it out of the way in time. But perhaps Chomper could... "Chomper! Move!" She shoved her son out of the way.

"MOM! DAD!" Chomper got off the ground and watched in horror as the trees slammed into his parents' sides. He rushed forward, but knew he couldn't do anything to help. "NO!"

Sly and Goldclaw rolled against each other, and rolled off the edge. They plunged into the cold waters below. They held their breath, and opened their eyes. The water was surprisingly calm. They tried swimming up, and managed to poke their heads out of the water. They gasped for air, and coughed. They looked up.

"CHOMPER!" Sly called out as loud as he could over the thunder claps in the sky.

Chomper could barely hear his dad. "DAD! MOM!" He could barely see them, but he knew their heads were out of the water. He was very relieved. "THERE'S LAND NEARBY! SWIM!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Goldclaw looked at her husband. "What did he say?" A flash of lightning broke through the skies, illuminated Sly's face.

"He said there's land nearby. We must swim to it!"

The two sharpteeth wasted no time in swimming around the island. They could barely see a small beach where Littlefoot and his friends landed on once. The sharpteeth were delighted. They knew a beach meant soon they would feel ground on their feet. They began swimming frantically towards it.

Chomper watched intently as his parents were making their way towards the beach. He turned around and was about the head down himself when a bloodcurdling scream caught his attention. He looked over, and his face drained of color.

There, in the water, he could see a large pool of blood forming. His mother was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she popped out of the water. But before she could take a breath, a huge swimming sharptooth, 40 ft long, popped its head out of the water. Its huge mouth slammed on his mother's head, crushing it as it pulled her underwater again.

His father already had a large gash on his neck. He was losing a lot of blood. Another huge swimming sharptooth, about 35 ft this time, shut its powerful jaws around his neck, and ripped out his throat. He gurgled and coughed up blood. He, too, disappeared beneath the waves.

(A/N The sharks were megalodons. The other was not fully grown.)

Chomper's heart was speeding. He couldn't believe it. He just saw his parents get devoured, and by other sharpteeth! Tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. "No...no...NO!" He cried out.

He leaned over the edge. "MOM! DAD! NOOOO!"

A large lightning bolt struck the edge of the cliff. Chomper could feel himself falling. He slammed into the waters. At this point the waters had started churning as winds picked up and the hurricane getting closer.

He struggled to swim, struggled to get up at the surface. He finally got his head out of the water and took in a large, choked breath. A large wave crashed down on him. He struggled to the surface, but the waters spun him around. He started getting disoriented and didn't know where he was going.

He was able to come up to the surface one last time. He found himself pinned against the rocky cliff of the island. He got one last glimpse of a wave before he was knocked out. His unconscious body floated in the ocean, vulnerable to the elements.

* * *

_Rush... baby... Be still... Stream._

_Sleep... last... Dream._

_River... Gently... Precious cargo._

_Peace... Deliver... There._

* * *

After what seemed like hours, he slowly opened his eyes. He noticed he had washed ashore. He struggled to his feet, trying to remember what had happened. He could barely remember his parents blood, swimming sharpteeth... "Mom...dad..." He whispered softly.

He remembered then of that song, well the pieces of song he had heard. It was sang by a very beautiful and gently voice. A sweet voice that was strangely familiar. He remembered that while he heard that he felt also a presence. A good presence thta made him fell good and safe, and give him a felling of hapinnes and peace. But this felling was quickly whased away by the memory of what had just happend to his parents.

It took him several seconds to realize he was no longer on the island. He looked around for a few minutes, registering what had happened in his brain. The area he was now in was a dry desert. There was no sign of foliage or food anywhere. He could see a few bones scattered, and a few small boulders, but that was it. It was a wide, flat desert.

"Mom? Dad?" He didn't wish to believe his parents were dead. Perhaps they had escaped. Perhaps they were here. If they were, he had to find them. He just had to! "Where are you?"

Suddenly a calm voice spoke. "You're parents can't be with you...anymore."

Chomper swerved his head. "Who are you?" He realized it was another sharptooth.

"I see you don't remember me." The sharptooth smiled, stepping out from the shadowy area he was standing in. As he stepped out, Chomper could see the sharptooth's olive green body, the small horns, the stripes, and the fins on his back. Chomper snarled and backed away.

"Get away from me..." It was the sharptooth that invaded his island when Littlefoot and his pals got stranded.

"I guess now you do." The sharptooth commented. He took a step forward. "You are without parents, aren't you?"

Chomper looked away. "What's it to you?"

The sharptooth looked a bit sad. "Why don't you come along?"

Chomper narrowed his eyes. "Why should I?"

The sharptooth sighed. "Forgive me for last time. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Slasher." Slasher lowered his head to eye Chomper right in the eyes. "I'm your father, your real father."


	13. His Story part 2: Truth of Hate

Part II: The Foreboding

Chomper stared in disbelief at the green sharptooth. The sharptooth that had attacked on the island relentlessly, attacked his parents, nearly killing him and his friends... it was really his father? But then...who were the sharpteeth who took care of him? Why was he with them?

"I-I don't understand..." He spoke softly. "How...how can you possible be my father? I just watched him die..." He choked, holding back tears.

Slasher closed his eyes and shook his head. "That wasn't your real parents you saw die, my boy." He bent down to comfort Chomper, but the little dinosaur growled and backed away. Slasher looked disappointed.

"Get away from me..." Chomper hissed. "You're lying...It's all lies!"

Slasher sighed. The little boy was pretty upset. He looked towards the island. "You seem pretty convinced that they were your birth parents." He smiled slightly, chuckling a bit.

The blue sharptooth snarled. "What's so funny!" He faced the larger sharptooth. "What is it about my parents that you find so funny!"

The horned sharptooth didn't reply. He just stared at the island. Reaching that island was quite a feat. He wasn't sure how he, or any other land-based sharptooth for that manner, could hope to make it to the island without dying from exhaustion. But somehow, a select few made it to the island alive. He had been one of them.

He was following a scent of potention prey when he found the island. Upon arriving on it, he soon realized that Chomper was there. But being half-starved he went crazy, and thus resulting in the near disastrous meeting that had occurred. Slasher felt a bit bad about what happened, but some of it he did not regret.

Suddenly he felt something hit him in the leg. It didn't hurt too much, but it did sting a little. He looked down to find Chomper clawing at him. He lifted his foot to avoid another scratch from the little creature.

"What are you doing?" He asked as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What do you think?" Chomper swiped at him again. "I demand to know what you found so funny!"

Slasher slowly shook his head. "I cannot say." He looked back at the island. "And let me tell you again, my boy. What I had said, about me being your father... that was no joke." He lowered his gaze. He looked back at Chomper. He didn't say anything, but the same glare was still glued on his face. He didn't look at all convinced that he was telling the truth. Slasher sighed. He would have to tell Chomper the truth. He was worried how this would impact him, though.

"If you're my father..." Chomper inquired slowly, "...then why was I with those two sharpteeth?"

The green sharptooth opened his mouth to speak, but for a few minutes, nothing came out. He wasn't sure just how to begin, or where to begin. "Do you remember anything when you hatched?" He finally asked.

Chomper thought hard as he could. "I remember being surrounded by strange creatures who looked nothing like me. I think they were Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie. All leaf-eaters. I remember being in the Great Valley, and then those sharpteeth showing up...and taking me in."

Slasher nodded once. "So that's why you were with them. They must've been the ones who caused the whole mess." He scratched his chin as he thought carefully.

Chomper raised an eyebrow. "Come again? What did you mean... caused the whole mess?" He cocked his head.

Another sigh came through his mouth. "I remember I was coming back from a hard hunt when there was an earthshake. Now I knew this couldn't be any natural made earthshake. I figured someone must've caused something to happen inside the cave." He breathed in deeply. "I returned to discover much of the cave, well caved in. Luckily my mate's nesting site was still intact. I was horrified to learn that you were missing. You must've been taken into the Great Valley, and then those two sharpteeth adopted you."

Chomper still wasn't entirely convinced. "Then how come I don't look like you?"

In response to that came a sly smile. "Haven't you noticed your head?" He walked over to the shore line. The water was moving gracefully in and out. "Look in the water, my son."

Chomper gulped, and walked towards the water. He looked up at Slasher for a second, and then saw his reflection. Because of the waves, it was a little distorted. But peering closely, he noticed his head had two white bumps on them! He tried his best to feel them with his claws. It was difficult, but he could finally feel the nubs. They were a bit sharp.

"What...?" He looked at a loss of words. He looked up at Slasher in shock. "How can this be...? I have horns..." He suddenly saw two small horns on the sharptooth's head. "Just like you..." His voice trailed off.

Slasher nodded once. "Yes. I am your real father. Your other 'parents' were not the same species of dinosaur as you are. They adopted you probably because they felt sorry for you."

Chomper shook his head. This couldn't be real. It can't be real! It just can't! "No...no...no..." He whispered, backing away. Everything he ever knew, was a lie? Everything? "My life...it wasn't true? Everything I thought?"

Slasher smiled slightly. "And it all happened because someone moved your egg before you hatched."

The small sharptooth let those words sink in. The reality of what happened was starting to make sense to him now. The horrible truth of Slasher's words made his heart ache with emotional pain. The thought of him being seperated from his real father, taken to worlds he wasn't supposed to be in, causing the death of two innocent sharpteeth... everything sinking in. And all this started boiling up a new emotion inside him. An emotion that felt like it would eat him away... hate.

"So...you now realize the truth?" Slasher asked simply. He could clearly see the anger inside Chomper's eyes. He was pleased.

"Yes...it was their fault..." He whispered. "Their fault...their fault. Their fault!"

Slasher turned away from the island. He looked down at his son. The young sharptooth now had more to hate than to love. Slasher would raise him, like he was supposed to. "I understand your hate, Chomper my boy." He looked out ahead. "I can raise you, and teach you everything I know." He smiled. "What is it you want the most?"

Chomper blinked in surprise at this question. "Hmmm..." He thought carefully. He then came across a word that he thought he'd never use or even try. "I know what I want, father."

"What is it?"

"Revenge..." Chomper hissed through his teeth. "I want to make them pay...I want to make them all pay for what they've done to me!"

Slasher smiled. "And so you shall, in due time, in due time." He started walking towards his home. "Come along, son. Let us go home. And tomorrow your training shall begin..."

Chomper nodded. He walked slowly along his real father's side. Slasher looked down at him, and an evil thought came to his mind. His plan was working. Though he wasn't lying about anything he had said, he was hoping Chomper would react this way. It did work. And now Slasher will finally get to do the one thing that was forbidden among all sharptooth kind: teach a sharptooth to become a murderer.

(A/N Sorry if this chapter was a bit...rushed. I didn't have too much time to complete it.)


	14. HIs Story part 3: Sharptooth Paradise

Part II: The Foreboding

A few weeks had passed. Slasher was leading Chomper to his home. They were heading towards the Great Valley, however that wasn't the destination that Slasher was heading. To attack too soon could prove fatal. No, he would wait for the right moment to send Chomper in. First, they must go somewhere else. He had started training Chomper, but to complete the training, he must first test to see how well his son was responding to the lessons. To do that, he must first reach his destination, a location that existed close to where the Great Valley was. A location that no one, but Slasher himself, knew about.

It was night time, and the air was still. The sound of their footprints was the only thing they heard. Nothing else was out. Nothing else was stirring. It was almost as if the place was abandoned. But Slasher knew better. Sharpteeth tend to hide out and be silent when waiting for unsuspecting prey.

Chomper followed his father loyally. The young dinosaur had a few cuts that he received during training. His father assured him that the cuts wouldn't scar over. But Chomper could care less. In his mind, having a few scars didn't matter. Though it would make him look more intimidating...

"Are we there yet?" He chirped suddenly, growing bored from all the travelling. "We've been traveling for days." He shook his head. He looked like he was brandishing his horns. They were now about the same size as his father's, and still growing. Slasher believed Chomper's horns could grow to a size unheard of in his kind. Perhaps they could even be used as a weapon.

Slasher stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the large moon in the sky. "We'll be there before the night circle sinks below the horizon, son." He then turned his sights towards Chomper. "Just have patience. It's a..."

"A virtue, I know, I know." Chomper rolled his eyes. "You already told me that."

Slasher smiled. "Well now, shall we continue? We're nearly there." He assured. Chomper nodded, and they resumed their walk.

Chomper was wondering just where they were headed. Slasher wouldn't speak the name. Slasher told him that he will learn the name after he's completed his training. Chomper knew that could take a lot more time. Slasher would intensify the training. There could be a chance he'd have to wait months or even years to exact his vengeance. But he was willing to take that risk. Chomper growled, narrowing his eyes as he thought of Littlefoot and his friends. If it meant getting back at them, the ones responsible for his separation from his real parents, it was worth the risk.

Slasher watched his offspring for a few seconds, then eyed the path ahead. He smiled as he started recognizing the place. The walls narrowed close, looking as though it was going to create a tunnel. But he knew the place very well. It was just an illusion. The walls on either side would never curl into each other to form a tunnel. Instead, they were leading them towards the entrance of what Slasher thinks of as a sacred place.

Tall mountains towered high, each one ending in jagged sharp edges. Some seemed to curl forward, making them look like teeth or claws. Even the smaller mountains were hooked sharply. The only plants that grew were the spiked trees. Plant-eaters never risked eating them. Normally they would grow far apart, but because of a source of water nearby, there was a whole field of them. They seemed to be blocking their path, as they stretched from one side to the other.

"Dad," Chomper muttered, looking at the spiked trees with a worried look. "How are we going to get across?"

Slasher smiled darkly as he walked towards a large boulder that had three deep crevices in it. It looked as if it was slashed by a giant sharptooth. Slasher used his massive body and brute strength to push the boulder to the side. It revealed a tunnel that dug deep into the side of one of the walls. "Come here, Chomper."

Chomper walked over. As soon as he stepped inside, Slasher then returned the boulder back to its original place. The tunnel was almost completely dark.

"Why'd you do that? It's so hard to see." The youngster narrowed his eyes, trying to look for even the faintest scrap of light to see.

Slasher rolled his eyes. "Just feel against the wall. There's only one path, my son. It will take you into the valley."

Chomper beamed. "You mean I can have my revenge now?"

Slasher sighed. "No, son. This isn't the Great Valley." He chuckled. "If it was this easy to get into the Great Valley, can you imagine now many sharpteeth would live in the valley by now?"

"This is easy...?" Chomper tilted his head. They started walking down the tunnel.

"Yes. Pretty much."

"So what's up with the spiked trees? Wasn't that the path that lead into the valley?"

The green sharptooth breathed in and exhaled slowly. "The spiked trees were there when I first arrived. Another sharptooth who lived in the valley showed me how to get in." He smirked. "This place is secret to most dinosaurs, because the only seen path is blocked, and the second path is hidden."

Chomper nodded. "A perfect hideout. You come here often?"

"Yes. This is where I train myself so I can catch prey easier. Of course..." He closed his eyes. "Among sharptooth kind this is illegal. The sharptooth you'll meet here will be fugitives who fled their home to practice their killings in peace." He lowered his eyed. "Understand?"

Chomper said, "Yes, I understand."

Slasher smiled. "Good."

They continued walking, and Chomper realized suddenly that he could see better. At the far end, there was a glimpse of white light. Chomper smiled, and being overly excited, started running towards the entrance. Slasher's eyes widened in horror, and he raced after his son. "Chomper, NO!" He managed to reach Chomper and used his mouth to pick him up.

"What?" Chomper asked. "What are you doing, father?"

Slasher didn't answer. He quickly jumped through the opening. Chomper heard a loud crash behind him. He looked and saw in horror that a huge boulder had landed where he was, blocking the path that lead out. Slasher panted heavily, tongue hanging out. Chomper dropped to the floor with a thud. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"What was that...?" He managed to choke out. As he looked up, he saw the shadows of two large sharpteeth. They looked like they were on guard duty. They stood above the entrance, and were watching him intently. Their eyes seemed to glow red in the darkness of the night.

Slasher looked at Chomper. "I forgot to tell you, this place is heavily guarded." He calmed his breathing to a steady rate. "Anyone who hasn't been here before risks being killed unless they are following closely behind someone who is trusted in this place." Chomper nodded, understanding now the error he had made.

"Slasher, good to see you again." A small sharptooth walked towards them. It was a sickleclaw, a pack hunting sharptooth. From the sound of the voice, the sharptooth was a female. She had pretty blue eyes with claw-shaped pupils. She had a light yellow body with bold black stripes. From the blood that lightly stained her lips, she had previously eaten.

Slasher smiled happily. "Well hello there, Blueye! Blueye, this is my long-lost son, Chomper. Chomper, this is Blueye, one of the leaders in training."

Chomper smiled slightly. "Nice to meet you."

Blueye grinned, flashing her sharp toothed mouth. "He's positively adorable! And my, what large horns! They might become mighty good weapons, yes?" She giggled. Chomper winced. He was getting pretty annoyed with her already, and they only met for a few seconds.

He then noticed that was in a corner next to them a spider web, and it had two blue butterflies in it. He licked his lips at the sight of the easy snack, but when he was about to eat them, a smaller figure come his way, a young sickleclaw with a light-green skin with olive-green strips running down her back. She had sea-blue eyes with dark irises. She stood right between him and the butterflies trapped in the web. Chomper was surprised by this, but quickly recovered and said "Get out of my way, I'm going to eat."

"No" said the young sickleclaw in a feminine voice, her tone and her eyes denoted fear, but yet she stood her ground "I saw them from far before you even noticed them. They're mine."

Blueye laughed at the scene "This is my daughter Sylvia. As you can see she has a very strong spirit, and do anything to keep the prey she catch. She will surely be a great hunter one day"

Slasher knew that Chomper and he had traveled a lot in the long few days. They had hardly rest, hardly slept, and hardly ate. He could hear his stomach growl. He smiled nervously and chuckled. Blueye cocked an eyebrow. "You two hungry? Why didn't you say so?" She looked at Chomper again, then back at Slasher. "Nothing to each right now, but there will be something in the mornin', now don't you worry!"

Chomper nudged his dad. "You heard her. Why don't we just find someplace to sleep for a while?"

"Yes, that might not be a bad idea." He eyed Blueye. "Sorry, but we must get going. Chomper and I had a few rough days of walking, and we need rest." He took a step forward. "Tell me, is my den still vacant?"

The sickleclaw blinked, as if confused. "What do you mean? It's always been vacant! I thought you had forbidden any of his from occupying it, even when you were away."

Slasher laughed. "Oh yes, now I remember." He cleared his throat. "Come along Chomper."

Chomper walked towards his father, glad to be getting away from the strange yellow sickleclaw. She was starting to creep him out. As Chomper was being led to the den by his father, he got his chance to look around. The inside of the valley did have a thin coating of grass. He could see large forests and rivers. It indeed looked a lot like the Great Valley, but looked just slightly larger. He turned his head. He could see the source of the water that the spiked trees just outside the walls fed on. There was a large hole on the side and water ferociously rushed in. The opening of the whole had teeth-like protrusions on the top and bottom. It gave the eerie appearance that it was a real sharptooth's mouth.

Chomper kept looking around. He had never seen any place like this. Well not other than the Great Valley and the island he used to live on, anyway. It was so gloomy at the entrance, but it looked almost like paradise on the inside. That's when he realized something was off. With all this green food around, where were the leaf eaters? Chomper wasn't stupid, though. He did know that leaf eaters either hide or fight when sharpteeth were out. But what were the chances of all leaf eaters avoiding the sharpteeth?

He sighed, and looked up at his father. He wanted to ask him so badly what this place was. But something was holding him back. As he kept looking out in that dark forest, a sense of eaeriness crept up his spine. There was indeed something...unnatural about this place. "Dad..." He finally spoke out. "What is this place...? It feels so...unnatural."

Slasher stopped. "I'll tell you just as soon as we..." He stopped in his tracks. He grinned. "We're there!"

Chomper shifted his eyes towards what his father was looking at. The den was a small cave. It didn't look it went more than 60 ft in. Chomper cautiously stepped inside. More rocks shaped like teeth seemed to be sprouting out of nowhere. There was plenty of room to sleep though, and the teeth-like protrusions didn't seem to be anything more than just to be scary-looking.

"Anyway, about this place..." Slasher said as they got inside the den. "This is the place where I and others like me train. This place is a slave-holder, a dream-maker..."

"But it looks like a paradise...for leaf eaters." Chomper looked out.

"It is a paradise, my son." Slasher nuzzled his son. "It's a paradise...for sharpteeth."

Chomper looked confused. What did he mean by that? "What do you mean...?" But he was cut off by his dad.

"Shhh...time to sleep. I will tell you more about this place in the morning."

"But can you at least tell me the name?" Chomper and his dad laid down to get ready to sleep. "Before we go to bed?"

Slasher sighed. "All right... the name of this place is...Fortress Valley."

(A/N And thus ends Chomper's 3-part story.)


	15. Escape

Part II: The Foreboding

"That's all I am going to tell you." Chomper said simply, smiling devilishly. "You don't need to know anything else."

As Chomper finished his story, Littlefoot, Ali, Petrie, and Rex were in shock. They had listened carefully to the sharptooth's every word. Rex wasn't around when they had brought the egg in, and neither was Ali. But Petrie and Littlefoot both remembered very well what had happened. It may have been a few years, but they remembered everything like it was yesterday.

"Chomper, listen..it wasn't our fault that you..."

"Shut up!" Chomper barked maliciously. "I'm sick of your lies!"

Petrie flew up and hovered above the longnecks. "But we no lied to you, Chomper." He received a look of hatred from the sharptooth. Then Chomper revealed all of his teeth in a vicious smile. Petrie yelped and flew behind Littlefoot's head. "Why you so mean and scary now?"

The sharpbeak finally spoke after a long moment of silence listening to Chomper's story. "Oh come on, he already told..." Suddenly a large blue foot stepped in front of him. The startled sharpbeak and bellydragger gulped and pulled back. Chomper lowered his head, and eyed them with an angry look.

"I...answer the questions around here." His hissing voice sounded like nothing they ever heard before. It was so menacing that even the cold-hearted Dil couldn't stand hearing the sound. Chomper pushed his head forward so that his snout was touching Dil's. "Understand me?"

Although she couldn't see him that well, Dil knew very well that Chomper was right in her face. "Y-Y-Yes boss." She whimpered, backing away slowly. "We understand."

Ichy nodded his head and smiled nervously. "Y-Yeah. It won't happen again. We promise!" He closed his eyes and lowered his head as Dil continued backing away.

The sharptooth smiled. "Good." He turned around to face Littlefoot. Littlefoot shuddered as the blue sharptooth looked at him that way. Why, not too long ago, Chomper used to look at Littlefoot with eyes full of happiness, loyalty and trust. Now all that he could see in there was emptiness, hatred, and betrayal. "Before my dad...my real dad...died, I promised him I would make him proud. I would kill you and avenge him!"

Littlefoot couldn't believe what he was hearing. But it wasn't just the killing thing he was confused about. "He died...?"

Chomper growled softly. "Yes. He died a few weeks ago." He closed his eyes. "He died from a..." He shook his head. "Wait? Why am I telling you this?" He took a step forward. "It was your fault it happened! Your fault!" He suddenly charged forward. He opened his mouth wide and snapped forward. Littlefoot reacted fast and used his tail to knock Chomper to the ground.

"That's not true!" Littlefoot pinned Chomper to the ground. He lowered his head and bared his teeth as he glared at the sharptooth who was once his friend. "How was I responsible!"

Chomper glared hatefully, and said, "You should know...You were there." Chomper then used his large feet to kick the longneck in the stomach. Littlefoot fell to his side. He looked up. Chomper raised his foot and kicked him again! This time it was in the ribs. Littlefoot cried out as he rolled onto his back, exposing his underbelly. Chomper laughed as he saw his chance and dove in to attack.

"No!" Chomper was knocked aside by something. Littlefoot looked in horror as Rex staggered back to his feet. Chomper opened his eyes after he had hit the ground, and snarled.

"Rex, no. You're hurt." Littlefoot walked over to his omnivorous friend. The winged dinosaur smiled at Littlefoot.

"It's...all right. I'm...fine." He spoke too soon. A wave of pain gripped his mind, and he almost lost his balance. Littlefoot walked up to him and let him lean on his body. "Thanks..."

"No problem." Littlefoot smiled, but the smile faded quickly and he turned his attention back towards Chomper. The blue sharptooth was back on his feet and stalking towards his direction. "We didn't do anything to you." He said as a final attempt to make Chomper believe him. He knew it was futile.

"I don't believe you..." Before the horned sharptooth could attack, Ali stepped forward. "So you're going to fight me? Fine!" He charged forward, but the female longneck was unfazed this time. She only snarled and charged forward herself.

Littlefoot could only stare in shock as Ali and Chomper dashed for each other. Even Ichy and Dil were surprised by the longneck's bravery. Ali reared on her hind legs and stomped down. The ground shook with incredible force! Chomper could barely stand up. As soon as he reached her he head-butted her. His sharp horns only scratched her skin as she maneuvered quickly to avoid their deadly collision. She used her tail to trip him. While the sharptooth was still on the ground, she reared up again to stomp down on him. "This is for my family!" She felt gravity do its job and pull her back towards the ground.

She thought she had him this time, but suddenly Chomper brought his head to her underside. Caught completely off guard, Ali screamed as the horns slashed her in the chest. They didn't go in deep, only scratching the surface. Blood started to leak out. A puddle of blood started to form.

"Ali!" Littlefoot shouted as the female longneck struggled to stand up on her feet. Littlefoot started to charge forward when Chomper shifted his blood-red eyes towards him. Something about that look stopped him in his tracks.

"Try anything..." He stepped closer to Ali. "...and I'll kill her."

Ali glared at Chomper. "You..."

Chomper smiled at her. "You seemed to be an intelligent young dinosaur." He chuckled. "Too bad it's going to be wasted when you die!"

He was about to attack when something else charged through the cave opening. The act was so fast that no one could tell who had just came in. Suddenly something struck Chomper in the side. He cried out in pain as he felt four spikes penetrate his side. He fell to the ground.

"Spike!" Littlefoot cried out. "How did you get here?"

Spike looked at him. "Messa no can explain. You run, now!"

Chomper was getting on his feet. Littlefoot hesitated. "But...you..."

Spike smiled. "No worry, friend. Just go!" He glared at the sharptooth. "Messa take care of bad guy." He kicked up dirt as he charged forward. Chomper roared as he tried to tackle the spiketail. Spike struck him in the face with his mighty tail. He was about to strike again when Chomper bit into one of his bony plates. His bite strength allowed him to crack the plate, and his teeth sunk in.

Luckily for Spike, this didn't hurt him. He tried to buck the sharptooth off of him, but it was no use. As he continued doing so, his tail accidentally struck the wall. The fragile sharp tooth-shaped rocks fell down in hundreds.

"Run!" Littlefoot shouted. He, Rex, Petrie, and Ali ran outside. They could hear the crashing sounds of the rocks, and dust flew into the air. They coughed and wheezed as the rocks continued to fall. The ground started to shake, and the teens fell down, except Petrie who remained airborne. But even though he was in the air, he could still feel the ground shaking as though he was on the ground himself.

Finally the rocks stopping falling. Littlefoot and the others looked at the cave entrance. The opening was still there, but the pile of sharply edged rocks piled up, almost barracading them out. There was only one opening, and it looked about the same size as Petrie. The loud sound was gone completely, replaced with an eerie silence.

"Spike...?" Petrie whispered, but no one responded. The group closed their eyes in dismay.

"We found you!" The group whirled around to see three figures running towards them. They were identified as Mr. Threehorn, Ducky, and Tria.

"What are you guys doing here?" Littlefoot asked a bit quietly.

Mr. Threehorn was the first to answer. "Why, looking for you of course. Where have you been?"

Littlefoot glared at him. "Where does it look like?" He gestured towards the cave.

Ducky coughed. "Where's Spike? He ran out ahead."

Rex closed his eyes and shook his head. "He's...in there." He turned his head and looked at the cave. Ducky looked to see that rocks had fallen from the ceiling, and there was no way in. She could feel tears filling her eyes already, even though they weren't sure Spike was dead.

"No..." She whispered. "No..."

Tria closed her eyes. "He sacrificed himself...to save you?" The response given to her was a single nod from the four friends who were once held captive by Chomper.

Littlefoot suddenly remembered something. He lowered his head and gently nudged Ducky. She opened her misty eyes. "Ducky...? We figured out why the sharptooth knew our names."

"Oh...?" She quietly said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yes. It's...Chomper."

Ducky was just as shocked as Littlefoot was when he learned the truth. "What..? That can't be true...no no no..."

Petrie flew down. "It true, Ducky. It true."

"You're alive...?" Ducky couldn't register the happiness in her mind when Topsy stepped in.

"Chomper...? You know that sharptooth?"

Littlefoot and Petrie gulped as they stared into the threehorn's eyes. They were narrowed, almost angry. They knew they couldn't lie, not in front of the council leader. They knew this day would come. But they didn't know that when the day would come, the sharptooth would have turned on them. They knew they had to tell the truth.

"Yes..." Petrie answered.

Topsy narrowed his eyes a bit further. "How...?"

Littlefoot answered this time. "Remember when I was a kid, when two sharpteeth for the first time broke into the valley?"

The threehorn nodded. "What about it?"

"We met Chomper at that time..."

* * *

In an old lake that seemed with a polished mirror, with several spring-green crystals around sprouting of the ground. It had a light odor of minds. In the edge of it was a two-crest swimmer that was looking at her own reflection, very sad look in her eyes. Tears running down from her emerald-green eyes and landing in the water, creating distortions in the image casted. She was sobbing while the tears fell. She didn't noticed the smaller figure approaching her.

"Zera?"

The female two-crest swimmer turned around by hearing her name, and was now facing a smaller figure, a sickleclaw with amber-colored eyes. He had a very gentle look and his voice filed with authentic worry. "Are you alright?"

The bigger dino looked away "No Bayron. I'm not."

The sickleclaw only sighed and moved closer, to hug and comfort her. She rettributed the action by hugging him back. "I can't understand." She said between sobs "How could things come to this point? How could all those horrible things to happen? How can then be happening now and we just keep here watching? How could he become this monster?"

Bayron feel the weight of every question, especially the last one. "He chose his own path." He said containing his anger "If Chomper has chose to become this so it was because he wanted. We can't do anything about it."

"But he is her son." said a desperate Vera "Her son, Bayron. She was so... How could someone with her blood become this?"

This question hit Bayron really hard. He was still remembering her, and all that she did. It was almost impossible to believe that the monster know as Chomper was actually her son. If she could see what he had become, what he was doing now, she would die from grief. "I don't know Vera." he said without finding an better answer "I just don't know."


	16. Survival and Death

Part II: The Foreboding

Before Topsy had a chance to demand an explaination, they suddenly heard a low rumbling sound. Rocks began rolling off the side of the pile that had formed just minutes earlier. The group turned their attention to it. The rocks continued shaking, and rolling. Pebbles first rolled down, and then rocks, and finally a few boulders. A low moaning could be heard.

Ducky perked up, her eyes filled with hope. "S-S-Spike...?"

As if on cue, a beaked green head poked through the rumble, large lazy purple eyes staring at her with a look of pain and confusion. "What happen...?" The shaky voice muttered. The large stegosaurus suddenly stumbled through the pile, having no injuries except a few small cuts and scrapes.

"Spike!" Ducky shouted with glee, and rushed towards her injured brother. "You're alive!"

Spike winced as Ducky wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled faintly. "Messa okay. Nearly die, though." He licked her face.

"I'm so glad you're all right." Ducky whispered.

The others looked happy as well. Only Littlefoot wasn't cheering. He was busy eyeing the rock pile. It wasn't only Spike that was causing those rocks to move. If Dil and Ichy survived, then they wouldn't have much to worry about. But if Chomper survived, that's a whole different story.

"Littlefoot?" Rex said, looking at his longneck friend.

"Hmm?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh...nothing." Littlefoot lied, quickly turning his head away from the rock pile. Rex didn't look convinced, and expressed it with a small glare. Littlefoot gulped. "Okay, okay... I was looking at the gathering of rocks over there." He gestured towards it with his head. "I don't think Spike's the only one who survived."

Rex nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Chomper's pretty tough." He reluctantly admitted.

They were interrupted by Mr. Threehorn, who was walking towards them with a serious look on his face. "All right, you two. You say you know the sharptooth's name is Chomper. Does this mean you know him personally?" He asked in an accusing tone.

Tria was standing right beside him. "Now now, dear. Don't get too mad."

Mr. Threehorn smiled softly at her for a brief moment. "I won't, I promise."

Littlefoot shook his head. He knew Mr. Threehorn wouldn't be able to keep that promise for long. He knew the threehorn still wasn't under good terms with Rex. How would he be able to handle the fact that his own daughter became friends with the very sharptooth, who in the end wound up killing her? He could only imagine Topsy going berserk and trying to kill the sharptooth himself. Maybe he'd fair better, being bigger.

"As I was trying to say before, when I and the others were still children," Littlefoot began, "We followed egg stealers into the Mysterious Beyond. We were trying to get Ducky's egg back. But we wound up taking a sharptooth's egg instead." Mr. Threehorn's eyes widened a little at this statement. "By the time we figured out it was a sharptooth's egg until it had hatched. The baby sharptooth we named Chomper, and he was...used to be...the friendliest sharptooth we met."

Littlefoot inhaled. "The two sharptooth who invaded the valley were his parents, or so we thought. They left the valley after they had found Chomper. They even saved my life when I was harrassed by the egg stealers."

Tria spoke up, "But if Chomper was your friend, why did he turn on you?"

Topsy rolled his eyes. "That's easy. He's a sharptooth! They do that."

The longneck cleared his throat. "It's because he thinks we ruined his life, and killed his real father." He closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit. "We can't convince him he's wrong. We don't know what to do."

"Well I know!" The male threehorn raised his head high in the air. "We must kill him!"

Ducky looked a bit shocked. "What?"

"It's the only way!" The old threehorn shouted.

Rex looked at Littlefoot. "I hate to admit it, but for once I agree with the old guy." Littlefoot looked at him. "I mean, we can't talk him out of this. You saw the look in his eyes, Littlefoot. He's serious."

Littlefoot nodded. "Yes, I know. I know."

"Look out!" shouted Tria all of a sudden. There was a loud crash! Then something knocked into Mr. Threehorn, something large and heavy. The threehorn cried out in pain as he rolled across the dirty floor, feeling a few of his bones crack under the pressure. "No!" The female triceratops crushed towards her fallen friend. Before she could reach him, a set of sharp horns thrust towards her, knocking her away!

"Chomper!" Rex cried out angrily. "Why did you do that!"

The blue sharptooth, who apparently survived, scowled. He ignored Rex, and turned his direction towards Spike. "Spike, you may have succeeded in killing my two henchmen, but you failed to have killed me..." He started walking towards that direction. "Now there's no landslide you can cause out here... Time for a rematch, Spike."

Suddenly Ali jumped in the way. "No...if you're going to fight anyone, it's me!" She shouted bravely. Chomper chuckled at this, but said nothing. At this point, he didn't care who he fought. Ali may not have been there when he was taken away from his real father, but she was still prey in his eyes. "I won't let you hurt him!"

Chomper could hear Mr. Threehorn's groans of pain, and suddenly got a different idea. He loved to make others suffer, even if they aren't his targets. He knew Tria loved Mr. Threehorn. He turned and walked away from Ali, confusing her. He made his way towards the wounded threehorn, and stood next to him. "I got a better idea." He announced, raising his clawed foot. "I'd rather stall my time killing you. Today will not be the day."

As soon as he said that, he kicked his foot down, and made deep gashes in the threehorn's side. The threehorn cried out in severe pain as blood rushed from his side. Chomper then opened his mouth and closed it around Mr. Threehorn's face. The entire group, including Tria, could only close their eyes and turn their heads away as the sharptooth crushed Topsy's head just as he crushed Cera's head. Tria was sobbing softly as her old friend was killed right in front of her.

Blood spilled all over the place, and bits of bone clung to the sharptooth's mouth. He smiled, exposing his teeth. They had pieces of bone and flesh and were stained with blood. "You are right, Littlefoot. Very right. I do like to kill more than I like to eat." He laughed.

Rex felt a few tears curl down his face. "Why you...monster... Why must you keep killing? Why!" He took a step forward. "Haven't you forgotten the adventures we used to have together?"

Chomper didn't flinch. "Those are behind me now."

Rex was about to charge forward when he was interrupted by Littlefoot. "No, you're still a little hurt. Maybe you should heal a bit first before attacking, Rex."

Rex shook his head. "No, Littlefoot. I have to fight him...now."

Chomper smiled. "How touching..." He whispered. Then he said loudly, "If you wanna fight me Rex, now's the time to do it!"

Littlefoot tried to convince Rex to not attack, but he knew it was hopeless. Rex, despite the pain, was already running towards Chomper for the confrontation. This would be an interesting fight. A sharptooth against a sharptooth, claw against claw. Chomper just stood there as Rex ran towards him, mouth open and claws outstretched for battle...


	17. First Blood of War

Part II: The Foreboding

Chomper laughed. "You really think you can take me on?" He sneered, eyes widened. Rex remained unfazed, and when he was close enough, he struck forward with his hand, cutting into his shoulder! Chomper roared in pain and fought back. He did the same thing Rex did, only this time his target was his arm. Rex howled in pain and lunged forward. It wasn't long before the two former friends were wrestling with each other. They dug their claws into each other, biting and scratching as they rolled across the battle floor, blood staining the ground.

Chomper finally managed to pin Rex on his back. The two calmed their speeding hearts with deep breaths. When Chomper was finally able to speak, he said, "I told you..." He closed his mouth, and curled his lips back to reveal all of his pointy teeth to the omnivore. Rex responded by baring his own teeth, all sharp just like Chomper's. "Why did you try to fight me?"

Rex let out a horrible growl, and sank his teeth into Chomper's arm. With a cry of pain, Chomper struggled to get the jaws unclamped off him. He used his head to slam into Rex's snout, causing the dinosaur enough pain to make him open his jaws. The horned dinosaur got off the winged dino and stepped back a few steps.

Rex hissed at Chomper. "Because, after all the adventures of the past, you turn your backs on us just because your stupid father said one thing about your past!" He stammered to his feet, and opened his wings. "Listen! How do you know he wasn't lying?"

The blue sharptooth's eyes glinted. "He was my father. He wouldn't lie to me."

"How do you know?" Rex asked intently.

"I just know."

"I see." Rex smiled darkly. "I suppose you have already forgotten what we've been through. Haven't you?" The smile faded. He started walking towards Chomper.

Chomper chuckled. "Heh. No I haven't." He closed his eyes. "I don't have amnesia, you know."

The winged dinosaur continued his advancement. The blue dinosaur remained still as stone, cold red eyes glaring his way. The winged dinosaur returned this look mutually. The others that were there backed away several yards to give the two room to fight. Littlefoot watched, and wished Rex would have taken his advice and not fight Chomper.

"I hope he'll be okay." He murmured.

"He will be. No worry." Petrie chimed, hovering above Littlefoot's head.

"I sure hope you're right..."

Rex and Chomper were now circling each other, staring at each other, almost as if testing each other's strengths just by watching the other's movements. Their heads were lowered, prepared to launch a bite attack if necessary.

Rex spoke, "If that is true, Chomper, then why are you doing this?" He finally stops moving, and straightens himself. "You wouldn't be doing this if you remembered." He was only trying to fool himself. While Rex was now standing still, Chomper was still circling him. The carnivore didn't answer the omnivore's question. He just continued walking around like a shark circles something it's curious about. Rex tried to follow Chomper's movements, and felt intimidated whenever he couldn't see him.

Chomper continued circling Rex, and while he was doing so, he started closing the distance between him and Rex. As he did so, Rex felt a fear bolt strike his spine. He wouldn't know where Chomper would stop or how close he would be. He didn't know if he should attack, or if that was a trap. Chomper kept getting closer and closer. The wide grin plastered on his snout remained there the whole time. From the look in his eye, Rex could tell that Chomper had something in mind.

"You think you know me?" He said softly as he got behind Rex. He was so close that Rex could feel the hot breath of the killer on the back of his neck. He let out an easy soft whimper, afraid that if he dare move, the sharptooth could bite his neck. "You know nothing..."

Suddenly Rex turned around. Chomper wasn't taken aback. He never planned on sinking his teeth into his neck. "What are you talking about!" Rex suddenly took Chomper by his shoulders and shoved him back. "Of course I know you! We are...were... friends!"

Chomper cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Rex thought Chomper has lost it. He was acting like he never saw him before! "What is wrong with you? What has that idiotic father done to you!"

Chomper's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't you speak about my dad that way..."

Rex let out a cold laughter. "Why not? He's the one who messed you up!"

Chomper growled angrily. "Stop it!"

But Rex didn't stop. "He screwed you up big time!"

The horned sharptooth was getting extremely angry! "I'm warning you..."

"He brainwashed you, used you! The no good..."

Rex was suddenly cut off as the large sharptooth rammed into his side! Rex screamed as he fall onto his back. He could feel the warm blood oozing from the gash he just recieved. He looked up fearfully and saw Chomper towering over him. The red eyes glaring at him looked like they were glowing an evil shine. Chomper was so full of rage that he could only manage to utter one word, "You..."

Rex gasped and tried to use his wings to fly away. Chomper saw this coming and immediately pinned Rex down once again. "Just stop this!" Rex pleaded. "Why can't you understand?"

Blood red eyes widened with a glinting of hate. "I understand this: I must kill you all." He opend his mouth and was going to use his sharp teeth to rip out the winged one's wings. "This won't hurt...for long."

"Neither will this!" Rex pulled his foot back and kicked into Chomper's abdomen. The sudden attack in the vulnerable area was enough to bring the killer to his knees. Rex kicked him again, this time in the head. The sharptooth fell onto the ground. This bought Rex enough time to get up to his feet. "Don't you see what he's done to you..." He whispered softly.

Chomper got up onto his feet. "He made me a great warrior." He smiled darkly, licking his lips. "I am starting to get...hungry."

The winged dinosaur gulped. He didn't like the look in the sharptooth's eye now. It was the look of hunger. And Rex knew all too well of the instinct that takes over when a sharptooth is hungry and sees blood. He would have to engage in battle once more.

"I was thinking of swimmer." Chomper's gaze shifted towards the audience, glued onto Ducky. He hadn't forgotten how he almost got to taste her blood the first night he was in the Great Valley as an adolescent.

A snarl escaped from Rex's throat. "If you want her, you'd have to go through me first!"

"As you wish..." Chomper dashed forward, mouth opened fully. Rex lowered his head and prepared to strike forward. The blue sharptooth headbutted into Rex again, but this time Rex was prepared. He grabbed a hold of Chomper's skull and pushed him into the ground. Before the sharptooth could get up, he had him pinned down.

He pushed his snout against Chomper's, two angry looks locking onto each other. "Leave them alone..."

Chomper asked, "Why?"

"They're your family."

Chomper laughed coldly. "Family? That's a good one!" Rex narrowed his eyes. "If they were my family, why did they seperate me from my real father? If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have suffered like I did!" He shoved Rex off of him. "You know...I was going to spare your pathetic life, Rex..."

Rex shook his head and looked up. Chomper was advancing towards him with a dark smile. "But since you insist on protecting them..." His eyes shifted towards Littlefoot for a second, then back to Rex. "I suppose I'll have to kill you now."

"Let me see you try..." Rex struggled to his feet. "I doubt you can kill me."

Chomper grinned. This looked like a challenge to him. "Don't think having wings can save you." He flexed his claws threateningly. "Remember, I captured Petrie and he's a flyer."

Even though he was a good distance away, Petrie heard that comment. "That only because me was asleep!"

Chomper laughed. "So what?" He shouted to Petrie. He turned his attention back to Rex. "You see, when I was being trained, I was also trained in how to combat with a winged opponent." He chuckled. "So whether you're flying or not...I can kill you..." He raised his foot and slashed Rex in the leg.

Letting out a loud cry of pain, Rex backed away. Blood dripped from the cuts. Despite the great pain, however, Rex stood his ground. "There is no way you can beat me!" He bared his teeth.

Chomper half-closed his eyes. "Did you fight among dinosaurs for most of your life? Were you trained specifically how to kill? Were you raised around natural born predators? I don't think so."

Rex snarled, "It's war." He was about to say something else, but something caught his attention. It even distracted Chomper from what he was going to do. They could feel it, a disturbance in the earth. They could feel the ground shaking, rumbling. Petrie looked up, and his eyes widened in horror.

"We gotta run now!" The ground's vibrations were strengthening.

"Why!" Littlefoot shouted over the commotion the earthshake was creating.

"Smoking Mountain! It erupting!"

Littlefoot gasped in horror. While he knew they were safe from the boiling hot lava, with the size of Smoking Mountain, the eruption itself could cause a landslide. They had to get out of there right away! "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

(A/N I haven't seen Land Before Time 2 in a long time, so I cannot remember how big Smoking Mountain was.)


	18. Retreat

Part II: The Foreboding

The earthquake started getting worse. As the gang ran as fast as they could, they were having trouble keeping themselves balanced. Some nearly fell over as the shakes grew stronger. They could hear a loud banging noise, and knew that the mountain was erupting. They had to get into the valley quickly. There was a good chance that the quake could seal them outside the valley.

"Can't we go any faster!" The loud rumbling was so loud that in order to hear each other, they had to scream. Ducky shouted at the top of her lungs, and still her voice was barely audible to the other members of the group.

"I...don't...know!" Littlefoot responded. "Where..is...the...closest...entrance...Tria!" He was trying to catch his breath. Littlefoot was growing tired from the running. They had to get inside quickly. They couldn't keep this up forever.

Tria looked at Littlefoot. "I don't know! Maybe Petrie can tell us!"

The longneck smiled faintly. "That's...a...good..idea...Petrie! Fly...up!"

The flyer soared up high enough to see the valley surrounded by its walls. His keen eyes searched frantically for an opening they could squeeze through. As he scanned, he finally found an opening. But as he looked at it, he knew that to get through here, they'd have to destroy a rock formation. The formation did look very familiar, but he couldn't quite figure it out.

The formation was tall and spikey. It had a small curving tunnel that would lead into the valley. But the opening was too small. They'd have to have Tria and Spike make the opening bigger, even if it means destroying the formation. Petrie looked for any other way the was closest. He saw none. This was their only closest chance to get back in the valley before they could potentially be sealed out forever.

Petrie then remembered Chomper. He had to have come into the valley somehow. Could there be another opening he got into? He couldn't take forever on this, he knew. The others were running out of time. They would have no choice but to go the rock formation and destroy it to get inside.

Satisfied, Petrie flew back down and hovered in front of Littlefoot. "Littlefoot! There is a small opening up there!" He pointed in the general direction. "But me thinks Spike and Tria have to destroy pile of rocks to get in!"

Littlefoot stared in surprise. "Is there any other way!"

The flyer shook his head. "No." Then he thought for a moment. "Well there be the way Chomper came in, but it may be too far away. This is closest entrance."

Littlefoot closed his eyes. "All right! Come on!"

The group headed up towards the area Petrie had just flown from. When they reached it, they noticed that it was on a hill. The rock formation was pretty big, but it should be no problem for Tria and Spike. As Littlefoot looked at it, he couldn't help but think that the spot looked very familiar. From where they were, the earthshakes weren't as loud, so they could speak softer now.

"I could've sworn I've been here before..." He wasn't the only one feeling deja vu.

"Me too." Petrie admitted.

"Messa remember." Spike chimed in.

"It does look familiar, yep yep yep." Ducky said.

Ali and Rex walked over. Rex was still hurt, but managed to continue walking without assistance. He looked at his longneck friend and said, "If you don't mind, we'd like to get in sometime before tomorrow." He smiled a little, and winced as he felt a sharp pain.

Ali nodded. "The sooner we get in, the better." She looked back at where the cave was. "We can only hope that the earthshake will keep Chomper busy long enough for us to get inside before he finds us."

Rex turned his head towards Ali. "Wouldn't he just run? I mean, he isn't stupid enough to stand in the middle of a..."

Ali interrupted him. "Yes he is." She took a step forward. "He will boldly face any natural disaster. Things like whirlwinds and lightning don't scare him."

Tria cocked an eyebrow. "So you're telling us that maniac could track us up here, even during an eruption, and attack?"

Ali nodded. "That's why we've got to keep moving. Try to break that rock the fastest way possible!"

Tria and Spike looked at each other, and nodded. As they studied the rocks, they could locate a few weak points that would cause the thing to collapse if struck hard enough. They approached those points. Spike raised his strong tail and struck as hard as he could. The rock started to break away. He struck it again, and the formation was starting to collapse. Tria walked to the other side, and used her strong horns to smash away the second weak spot.

The formation started to collapse. Huge boulders starting racing down towards the group. Ali gulped. "Maybe we should've gotten out of the way first..."

They rushed to all the sides as the boulders and rocks and pebbles rolled down the hill. The rumbling caused the ground to shake even more, and some of the members lost their balance and fell to the ground. As Littlefoot witnessed the formation fall to pieces, a flash of memory entered his mind. As the rocks continued to fall, Littlefoot suddenly remembered what this place was.

Voices filled his head. They echoed in his brain. They whispered into his ear. They sent a volt up his spine.

"Littlefoot, you found it!"

"We did it! We did it together!"

"Mother? I tried to do what you told me. But it's just too hard. I-I'll never find the Great Valley..."

"Littlefoot...Littlefoot...Littlefoot..."

"Don't go mother! Don't go!"

"The Great Valley... Cera, Spike, Ducky, Petrie! Over here!"

The voices echoed inside his head. Memories flooded his mind. As he closed his eyes and reopened them, and saw the formation fall to pieces completely, he felt a small pain in his heart.

Ali gently nudged Littlefoot. "What's wrong?"

"I-I remember this place..." Ducky, and Petrie looked at him. "I-It's where I first entered the valley..." He took in a deep breath. "This is the spot, where I found the pathway into the valley. I could remember, how happy I was, how happy my friends where."

Ducky and Petrie's eyes went wide. They stared up where the rock formation used to be. And now they, too, could remember things from long ago, when they first arrived in the valley. "This is where we almost lost Petrie, too." Her weary eyes looked down at the large pool where they killed a sharptooth.

Petrie shuddered. "Don't remind me about that!" He folded his wings around himself. "Me surprised I got loose in time."

Tria and Spike started walking back. Spike shouted, "If zee wanna get in before bad shake closes us up, best get going!"

Tria agreed. "He's right! We gotta get going!"

Rex, Spike, Tria, Ducky, and Petrie started heading up towards the newly exposed opening. But Littlefoot and Ali stayed behind. As the earthquake was starting to grow softer, Littlefoot still had his eyes glued on the opening where he first entered the valley. Then he raised his head towards a taller formation that stood next to it. He could spy the small platform that he stood on when he talked to his mother in the sky.

Ali nuzzled him. "You never told me what happend to your mother." She looked into his eyes. "Do you want to tell me about it...?"

Littlefoot closed his eyes and looked away. "She died saving me from a sharptooth..."

The female longneck's eyes widened. "I-I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's all right." He whispered. He let out a long sigh. "Well we better get going."

"Yes, let's go." She followed Littlefoot towards the opening. As they disappeared, a cloud of mist sank towards the ground. As it dispersed, a single female longneck stood there. She was bigger than Littlefoot and Ali. She had a brownish color with a dark brown stripe that connected from the tip of her snout towards the tip of her tail.

The ghostly longneck walked forward a little. As she watched the others disappear into the valley, a smile came across her face. And then she spoke softly, her words sounding like they were with the wind. "Prepare yourself, Littlefoot... A battle is coming... And when it does...you must be willing to forgive everything...to know and have the family you did never knew..." Then the ghost longneck disappeared.

Littlefoot felt his heart skip a beat as he heard the voices in the wind. He turned his head around. "Mother...?" But he could see nothing.

Ali looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Littlefoot answered, "I thought I heard my mother..."

"It was probably just the wind."

"Yeah.. you're probably right..." He couldn't help but think about that voice he had just heard. He whispered, "What did she mean by...family I never knew...?"


	19. The Sudden Strike

Part II: The Foreboding

(A/N Sorry if this chapter is a bit...sloppy. I got on the computer late and was very tired when I wrote this chapter.)

Chomper watched the display of volcanic activity as the leaf-eaters fled back into the Great Valley. As he noticed something fall down, his curiosity overwhelmed him. If something fell down, that meant that something was destroyed. And if something was destroyed, perhaps it left a new vulnerable area. The thought pleased him and he clearly showed it with a sneer on his face. Using his strong feet he easily scaled the hill despite the earthshake. As he closed in where the leaf-eaters had been, he noticed a large pile of boulders. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at it. It was low enough to cross over, yet looked a bit too unstable.

"This might be too dangerous for a sharptooth to cross..." He said to himself. Then he thought it over. While this gape was still a bit unstable, the leaf-eaters still crossed it. They would have had to, to get back inside. If a lumbering leaf-eater like Littlefoot could cross it, why not a sharptooth? Sharpteeth weren't as heavy and could move faster than some of the large leaf-eaters.

Chomper smiled. "This'll have to do, I suppose." He closed his eyes. "Another way into the valley. Perfect. I couldn't have wished for a better present today." He laughed coldly and walked away.

Back in the valley, Littlefoot and the others rushed down the steep hill back into the valley. Many lost their footing and began rolling down instead. Ducky, for instance, couldn't handle the speed that picked up in her gait as she headed downhill and ended up tripping over her own tail. Littlefoot was one of the few lucky ones. He used his feet to grip the ground as he slid down, which provided enough traction to keep himself from collapsing.

As the group made it to the bottom, some struggling to their feet while others regaining their senses, they looked around slowly, and they could quickly see Smoking Mountain spewing up lava and, of course, smoke. They had events like this before. They just had to stay away from the volcano until it settled down.

"I do not know when Smoking Mountain will stop, no no no." Ducky said quietly as she stared at the fiery red glow.

Rex shook his head. "Nobody ever does. But shouldn't we be heading to a safer place?"

Littlefoot said, "No, this is the safest place, Rex. Nowhere else to go."

Petrie gulped and flew up to Littlefoot. He landed on the longneck's head and hugging him tightly. "Me too young to die." The longneck rolled his eyes.

"Relax, we just have to keep our distance."

* * *

Chomper walked among the boulders that had fallen during the earthshake. He grumbled as he constantly shifted left to right. It took him so long to find the path that led back to Fortress Valley. Once he found it, he continued along. He had to return to tell the others the good news. As he reached the wall of spikey plants, he took one last look in the direction of the Great Valley. As he stared, his heart panged with hatred. "Soon, the valley will be ours..." He hissed between his teeth.

It was his life-long dream to enslave the Great Valley and make it the second Fortress Valley. It would be another sharptooths' paradise! "Sharpteeth are the true masters." He had said once. His father had taught him well.

"Rex was a fool to mock my father." Chomper sneered. "If my father was still alive, he'd rip that stupid meat-eater into shreds!" He curled his claws threateningly.

When he reached the boulder, he pushed it aside and stepped in. While the path was pitch black, he knew it well and could make his way blindfolded. He stepped back into the light, and walked among his fellow sharpteeth. Some greeted him while others ignored him. When he looked one way, he could see a small longneck being herded into the Feeding Area. He smiled coldly. That is what he had in mind for Littlefoot.

(A/N Bladebacks are Spinosaurus, Finbacks are Dimetrodons, btw.)

The Feeding Area was a large area near the side of the valley. There was only one way out and it was guarded by two of the largest sharpteeth of the area, Bruce and Wren, who were two bladebacks. Bruce was red with pale yellow spots while Wren was green with black stripes. They would make sure that no leaf-eater escaped the Feeding Area. The area was closed off as best as they could. The leaf eaters herded inside there were knocked out with a boulder, and they were gathered in the middle.

Sharpteeth can see perfectly well in the dark, but most leaf-eaters could not. The sharpteeth were at an unfair advantage, and they loved it. The young ones would cower together to give each other support, and the sharpteeth would pick them off one by one. Some of the meat-eaters made sure to make their victims suffer a long time. One of them actually ripped off the limbs of the child and left him like that for ten minutes before ending his agony by swallowing him whole!

Chomper was always amused by the Feeding Area. It was also a good place for torture. Chomper looked at his claws as he imagined the whole thing. He could imagine his claws deep inside Littlefoot's skull, smashing his brain open. He could imagine him ripping his throat out with his large sharp teeth. He could imagine breaking Littlefoot's legs with a single kick from his leg. The mental picture was so soothing for the sharptooth that he started drooling.

"Chomper?"

Chomper snapped out of his dazze. He opened his eyes and looked around. He couldn't see anyone in front of him. "Hello? Who's there?"

"Down here."

Chomper looked down. "Oh, it's you Blueye. What do you want?" Chomper still found her a bit annoying, but after living in Fortress Valley for so long he's grown used to her company.

Blueye cleared her throat. "The troops have trained just as you wished, sire. They're ready when you are!" She saluted Chomper, and then walked away. She had done her job.

Chomper smirked inwardly. He had told Blueye to train a pack of a couple sharpteeth to invade the Great Valley. He does not expect to win, but after the battle, win or lose, he would gain more knowledge of their fighting abilities and be able to work out counterattacks for each one! The group of sharpteeth were mainly the same sharpteeth his surrogate parents were. They weren't incredibly strong but strong enough to defend themselves if need be.

Chomper looked up at the skies and realized it was already getting a bit late. But he knew a night strike would be great. It would catch Littlefoot off guard. Chomper chuckled coldly. The others must be so tired that they wouldn't be prepared for a sudden attack!

"Troop Zeta!" He shouted. Without a word, a pack of up to six sharpteeth showed up. Some were darkly colored while others lightly colored. They remained quiet as Chomper marched back and front in front of them, his red eyes glued on them and their every move. "Tonight, you six will be sent to the Great Valley to test out the strength of our enemy." The sharpteeth nodded. "But don't hesitate to kill if you need to."

The sharpteeth nodded once again. "Before I dismiss you, please note that if you find the longneck named Littlefoot, tell him that he's mine. He and I will fight each other...to the death." He smiled as he said the word 'death'. He finally waved his arm at them, dismissing them. The sharpteeth knew the routine and left for the Great Valley. Chomper told them of one way in, and sharpteeth never forget.

Unbenownst to the sharpteeth, a pair of watchful eyes stared at what was going on. The figure, in the shadows, seemed to be panicked. "Oh no! They're planning some sort of...invasion!" The shadowy creature, turning out to be a flyer, spread out his wings and jumped off the tree branch. His wings caught the wind and he was carried off high into the air. He changed course and headed straight to the Great Valley. "I must warn them!"

As the figure fled Chomper noticed. He narrowed his eyes "You!" he said turning to a flyer sharptooth who was flying near. "Follow that and grant it will not arrive in the great valley." he said gesturing to the flyer who had just leaved. The flyer sharptooth replied with a "Yes, sir." and started the pursue.

Then Chomper was left alone with Blueye. "So, how Sylvia is going?" He tried to put aside the problems. Blueye suddenly seemed to become sad.

"Yeah, I'm getting really worried about her." She said "She is very skilled at fighting and all, but she is having a lot of bad luck in the hunting."

Chomper could only nod. In the past time Sylvia had really showed to be a very bad lucked sharptooth. Not only she had troubles finding her preys, but even when she found one, even with a partner, the prey almost always give it's way to escape. Many had recommended her to train in the feeding area, but she always refused, saying that she doesn't needed any training. Not only that, but she always ate outside the feeding area, and out of everyone's sight. If Chomper didn't knew he would be very suspicious about her behaviour.

* * *

Back at the cave that smashed in, a sudden moaning was heard. Well only heard by the little creatures that scurried over there during the earthshake. Something was moving inside the cave. The earthshake had busted the rock wall completely, allowing whatever was inside to come out. A figure drugged itself out, and collapsed due to exhaustion. As it opened his eyes, a red glow filled the orbs inside its head.

Then something else stumbled out as well. It was much smaller than the other, and instead of red eyes, this one had yellow. The second creature shook itself off, and looked over at the exhausted figure. "We must find them, Dil..."

* * *

Back in the Great Valley, Littlefoot had walked off with Ali. He said he wanted to alone with her for a while, to calm down a bit. He was going to talk to her about a bit more of his past. Ali seemed to be very understanding of Littlefoot's situation. In fact, like how Littlefoot lost his mom when he was young, Ali lost her dad when she was young. She said he wasn't killed by a sharptooth. She claims it was some sort of illness that killed him. Unlike Littlefoot's grandpa's illness he had that one time, this illness had no cure. Ali could only watch in horror as her father slowly died in front of her eyes.

Ducky and Petrie sat down together. The Smoking Mountain had finally stopped erupting. But smoke still came out of the volcano. The smoke filling the air made it look like clouds were forming. But the two knew better.

"I wonder what's gonna happen now..." Ducky whispered.

"Me no know..." Petrie murmured.

Suddenly a scream tore through the valley. Petrie and Ducky jumped to their feet as something zipped past them. They quickly turned around to find two creatures struggling with each other across the floor. They couldn't tell who they were, but they could tell one of them had sharp teeth.

Ducky narrowed her eyes and charged forward. Using her strong tail, she struck the sharptoothed creature. It squealed and squawked angrily. She struck it again, this time knocking it out. As she observed, she realized what it was. It was a flying sharptooth. They were very vicious, sometimes even more so than land sharpteeth. Then she looked at the second creature. It too was a flyer and had sharp claws, but its beak was toothless.

She took a step closer to get a better look. When the flyer turned around to look into the eyes of its savior, Ducky could not believe her eyes. "It's you..."

Neither did Petrie. "Uncle Pterano!" He yelped in surprise.

Pterano smiled, but brushed himself off as he stood up. "No time for introductions, my dear nephew." He opened his wingspan. "Your valley is in grave danger!"

Ducky looked confused. "In danger? From what?"

Pterano heard something roar very close by. Ducky and Petrie heard it too. "That! Sharpteeth, coming this way!" He panted as he caught his breath. "Flying sharptooth attacked me, tried to make sure I couldn't warn you in time!"

As the roar sounded out again, this time much closer, Ducky looked in the direction Littlefoot was in. She looked back at Pterano and Petrie. She couldn't believe how much they looked alike now. "You two, warn as many as you can! I'll find the others!"

Petrie and Pterano nodded and they flew off. Ducky watched them leave. When they were gone, she heard another sharptooth roar. She panicked and fled, letting her fear take over...


	20. Second Meeting

Part II: The Foreboding

Rex slumped against the side of the rocky structure in the middle of the valley. It was the meeting place. Rex moaned in pain and lifted his arm to himself. He slowly licked the gash that now snaked deep inside his arm. Pain seered all over his body. "Man, I should've just sit out of the fight..." He grumbled to himself. He was in no position to fight. He'd have to let his wounds heal.

Petrie and Pterano perched themselves nearby. They escaped without too much injury. Pterano had trouble flying now because there was a little rip in his wing membrane. Petrie had a little scratch on his chest, but was otherwise fine. Next to them stood Ducky. She had a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing that would prove to be fatal. Spike, however, lost one of his spikes and a few of his plates were now busted. Littlefoot now adorned a cut very similar to what the lone dinosaur has, only on the opposite eye. Ali only had a single deep gash in her left leg, though.

Rex slightly glared at her, and said, "Lucky."

Ali sighed. "It's not my fault I'm better at fighting than you are, Rex." She smiled softly.

He rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. But still, you lucky." He winced as pain entered his mind once again. Ali tilted her head and walked over.

"Need some help?"

"No! I'm fine!" Rex snapped.

"Okay, suit yourself."

* * *

Littlefoot had called a meeting, but unlike the last meeting, this meeting will only consist of a smaller group of dinosaurs. In the meeting, there was himself, Rex, Petrie, Pterano, Ali, Tria, Ducky, Spike, Thicknose, Dina, Dana, Hyp, Nod, and Mutt. There was also Charlie and Serena, the rainbow faces that Littlefoot met when he was little. Everyone in the valley knew that they held a few magical tricks, and Littlefoot believed that they would be an important asset. Hyp was the smallest, of course, but his strong-willed attitude made him a tough opponent, and thanks to his dad's training, he could take on even the largest of sharpteeth. Mutt was still a bit absent minded, but his strong body was perfect for battle. Nod didn't look different except he was larger, and his armored back made him difficult to beat.

Littlefoot walked in front of the small group of dinosaurs. He wanted to keep it small so that it would be easier to decide on what they should do. He had sent Petrie to tell everyone in the valley of what was going on. Petrie had also told the ones who couldn't come to the meeting that he would update things for them as soon as he could. Littlefoot was not sure if they should head towards Fortress Valley or not. And if they decide to go, they'd have to bring a lot more dinosaurs with them.

"I suppose some of you are wondering why you were called here today." He scanned the group. None of them seemed to indicate an answer. They remained looking emotionless as they waited politely for Littlefoot to continue. An angry scowl from Hyp made Littlefoot continue his speech. "Today we were just attacked by a pack of sharpteeth." A murmur developed among those who did not witness the fight. "It seems we were wrong about the sharptooth kind."

Nod spoke up. "What do you mean? What were we wrong about them?"

Thicknose had to agree. The old dinosaur took a step forward. "They aren't very bright, or..."

Littlefoot shook his head. "That was a grave mistake we leaf-eaters have all made. We have underestimated the sharpteeth." The group started again with its nervous chatter. Hyp decided to say something this time around.

"So how do you know we underestimated them?"

"It seems the sharpteeth have a valley of their own, somewhere nearby." Littlefoot waited for the clamor to die down before he continued. "It is guarded heavily, but there is a way in. We just have to find it."

Dina took a step forward. "You mean we have to go to this...sharptooth-infested valley?" Dina and Dana did have their brow horns, but they were shorter than what Cera's was.

Littlefoot shook his head. "We are not sure. But we do know this: there is a massive army of sharpteeth living in that valley, and if what that one sharptooth said was true, then the valley is a haven for sharpteeth but horrid for leaf-eaters. They will capture, torture, butcher, and eat any leaf-eater, especially the kids." There was a collective gasp. "The place is known as Fortress Valley."

Pterano cleared his throat. "Might I suggest a stealthy act? Maybe sneak into the valley and discover their weaknesses?"

"That would be a good idea, Pterano, except we don't know the entrance of the valley, and from what Chomper told us, it's heavily guarded at the entrance." He then looked at the group. "If we were to sneak into the valley the same way that Chomper does, then we'd be in big trouble. They have two sharpteeth at that entrance." He closed his eyes. "We'd have to find another way."

Pterano thought for a moment. "Perhaps Petrie and I could flew through the area and see if we can find a place you can climb up."

Petrie said, "But what about flying sharpteeth?"

Pterano snapped his finger. "Oh darn!"

"Wait! Those flying sharpteeth who attacked you, I believe they sleep during the night like the rest of us." Thicknose smiled a bit slyly. "As long as you are quiet, you could sneak past them."

Pterano smiled. "That sounds good. What do you think, nephew?"

Petrie thought about it. He finally nodded. "Me thinks it good idea. Might just work."

Tria decided to speak this time. "It's still very dangerous. Even if you manage to locate a path to take, like you said, Littlefoot, there are hundreds of sharpteeth in that valley. Wouldn't we have to take hundreds of dinosaurs with us as well?"

The longneck nodded. "Yes. We'd probably have to take nearly all the dinosaurs in this valley. Maybe even more. Those sharpteeth are well trained and will be even tougher than normal sharpteeth."

The female threehorn narrowed her eyes. "Then shouldn't we just stay here then?"

"No. If we do, they'll invade this valley and we'll be completely ill prepared for battle."

"I've got my horns!"

Littlefoot nodded once. "Yes, you do. But how well can you use them if you're sleeping?"

Tria cocked a brow. "What?"

"How do you know the sharpteeth won't come at night and kill you as you sleep?" Tria didn't answer. "We need to go into battle if we want to live. Of course, the other option is to go into the Valley of Mists."

Ali looked at him in horror. "What are you thinking!" She ran up to him. "You can't go there! It's too dangerous!"

Littlefoot gave her a sorrowful look. "I know, Ali, but Chomper doesn't know about that place, I hope. We could live there for a while until the threat goes away. But that's only a last resort."

"I say we go into Fortress Valley and kick all those sharpteeth butts!" Hyp shouted, fists clenched tightly. "I want to get them back for what they did to my dad!" A sharptooth strayed from the pack and killed Hyp's father.

"But shouldn't we think this through first?" Asked Dana.

"No! We must go to battle!" Shouted Nod, his eyes glaring and determined.

* * *

Back in Fortress Valley, a red sharptooth named Crimson was escorting Dil and Ichy to their den. They had came into the valley, harmed by a rock fall. Chomper had ordered them to be taken to a den where they could rest a few days and heal. He was surprised that they had survived. Now knowing about their incredible survival skills, he wanted them to be part of the invasion.

Suddenly he noticed that the sharpteeth he had sent into the valley before had returned. They all had injuries on them, but they proudly showed no signs of pain. They stood as straight as they could, in soldier style. Chomper approached the group, and paced back and forth in front of them.

"Well? What's the news?" He asked coolly.

One of the sharpteeth replied, "Message delivered, sir!"

Chomper smiled. "And how did they take it?"

"The one called Littlefoot is deciding whether or not to invade Fortress Valley, sir!"

This caught Chomper's attention. Was Littlefoot really going to risk coming here? The thought made him laugh coldly. They must be crazy! The walls are heavily guarded, not just the entrance. They had night watchers as well. They would be discovered for sure! Their little invasion would be all a waste. But then Chomper got an idea. What if they acted like they didn't know there was an invasion coming?

"I got an idea..." He purred threateningly. "Tell all the defenders to act off guard. Tell them to stay hidden in the shadows." He smiled. "I have a feeling the group will be coming at night."

"But which night, sir?"

"That's a good question..." He let out a loud roar, calling to a sharptooth flyer who zoomed down. As it perched on a nearby branch, Chomper addressed him, "Sierra, I want you to fly over to the Great Valley and see when those leaf-eaters plan on coming over here."

Sierra giggled evilly. "I can't wait to get my claws on Pterano... I can't believe I ever took orders from him!"

"Now now," the horned sharptooth interrupted, "don't let yourself be seen. Remember, you're a spy, not an attacker, in this situation."

The flyer growled. "Fine..." He took off towards the Great Valley.

Chomper smiled evilly as Sierra took off towards the valley. He knew it was close to battle. "Soon, Littlefoot's blood will seep through my claws..." He had no idea why he was now focused on Littlefoot. But he figured it was because he was the leader, and if he took down the leader, the rest will fall.

He dismissed the sharptooth pack, and he walked over to his den. As he stared at the sharptooth-like waterfall, he smiled hideously. "Soon, Littlefoot. Soon..."

In this moment no one could see, but a ghostly picture appeared behind Chomper, it was a great sharptooth, and had a very sorrowful look. It spoke with a sad yet sweet voice that only Chomper could barely hear. "Chomper, the path you're going is too dangerous. Please, turn back now, or you may lose your real family and yourself. Turn back now before you hurt yourself more that you have already done." and so vanished.

Chomper's eyes widened as he tough he had heard a familiar voice speaking to him. He turned around and saw no one."Hello?" he had no answer so he quickly dismissed it as the wind. What did this voice meant when said he would lose his real family? And that he was hurting himself?

* * *

Sierra keep the grin while he leaved the valley, but as soon as he was out of sight he let it drop. Chomper was a big fat idiot. He tought that he knew everything, but he was wrong, and Sierra was the proof.

Sierra didn't understand why he had to follow his orders. He could kill Chomper himself if they let him, but instead he was following him.

"Just wait Chomper." He said to no one in particular "I'll make you swallow all your stupid words, along with your teeth and horns after I rip then all out."


	21. Naive Trust

Part II: The Foreboding

Sierra grumbled as he was being led towards the Meeting Place. His face was surely frustated. He should've listened to Chomper. He should've just been stealthy. But no, he just had to try a frontal abordage the second he saw them. "I really need to think before I act..."

"Be quiet!" Snapped Teri. Teri was a female flyer about Petrie's age. She was dark blue with a light blue head and a golden 'ring' around her neck, and a pale yellow beak. Sierra hadn't gotten close to the meeting when he was suddenly knocked from the sky. The fall was enough to bend his beak a little and lose a tooth. He was surprised to see he was knocked down by a plant-eating female flyer, but he didn't dare fight her. Teri was larger than he was even though she was younger, and obviously stronger. He was much better off surrendering.

"Excuse me, but I don't recall telling you I was going to be quiet." He hissed, baring his teeth.

Teri rolled her eyes. "Well I say you be quiet!" She gave him a hard shove. He wabbled a little, but regained his footing. "I know about you. Pterano told me about you."

A nasty grin spread on the flying sharptooth's mouth. "Oh he has, has he?" He gave her a sideways glance. "Well you can tell Pterano that he and I have a score to settle."

Teri shook her head. "Why don't you tell that to him?"

"Don't think I won't!" He shouted almost proudly.

"Well here's your chance, sharptooth."

Sierra looked surprised. He had lost track of the time that he spent forced to walk on foot. They had already reached the Meeting Place. As Sierra looked, he noticed that most of the dinosaurs were too busy talking. But one in particular was looking straight at him. As their eyes met, a light of hate rekindled inside him.

"Sierra!"

"Pterano."

Pterano flew a bit closer. "Teri? Why did you bring him here?"

Teri folded her wings. "He just decided to drop in, apparently." She gave Sierra a nasty glare.

Sierra chuckled, tapping his claws against a rock. "The feeling is mutual, dear Pterano..." Pterano growled as he heard those words spoken to him like he was a child. "But I didn't come here to fight you."

The male flyer didn't take his eyes off the dark flyer. "I don't believe you, Sierra." Pterano paced around Sierra. Teri took a step back to give Pterano more room. "I remember what you almost did to me in the past."

A laughter broke out. "You still upset about that! Why, Pterano, that was years ago!" He put his claws on his chest as he continued laughing dryly. "I have all but forgotten why I was so mad at you back then!"

Having been a professional lyer a few years back, Pterano could sense that Sierra was not telling the truth. He could see it in his eyes, his body language, the tone of his voice, that weird smile on his face. Something was up. But what? What was Sierra plotting? What is his plan?

Teri turned her gaze from Sierra to Pterano. "What do you think we should do with him?"

"Go talk to Littlefoot. Let him know Sierra is here." The flyer never changed the direction of his suspicious glare. "I'll talk to Sierra for a few minutes."

Teri nodded, and flew off. This left Sierra alone with Pterano. The sharptooth chuckled maniacly, "So you're alone now?"

That seemed to almost confirm Pterano's suspicions. "It is not wise to attack me here, Sierra." He folded his wings in an almost arrogant manner. "You are too close to the other dinosaurs. They'll know you are here."

The flying sharptooth formed a fist with his right wing and swung it in the air. "I told you, I'm not here to attack you!"

Pterano smiled dryly. "Then what are you here for?"

"To help you!"

"Is that true?" Pterano swerved around as he saw Littlefoot walking towards them.

"Why yes..." Sierra smiled coldly.

"Don't believe him, Littlefoot!" Pterano flew up and stared at the longneck in the eyes. "He's just like how I was years ago! You can't trust him!"

"But he's a flying sharptooth, Pterano." Littlefoot frowned slightly. "He's probably the only one here who knows exactly how to get into Fortress Valley without getting seen."

"But you know as well as I do is you can trust Sierra as far as you can throw a mountain!" Pterano snapped angrily, slapping Littlefoot on the head with his wing. "Think, Littlefoot! Think!"

The longneck snarled, but said nothing. He looked at Sierra. He, too, was doubting Sierra's words. But at this time, Sierra is the least of their problems. Littlefoot didn't know of a pathway they'd for sure never be seen, but perhaps this sharptooth did. Ignoring Pterano's warnings, Littlefoot decided to accept Sierra's help.

"I accept your help, Sierra."

Sierra smiled, tapping his claws against each other. "Excellent..." he said in a long sigh. "I'm sure you'll find me rather...helpful..." He grinned.

Teri and Pterano looked at each other. They both couldn't believe that Littlefoot was stupid enough to fall for Sierra's tricks. But since Littlefoot was now leader of the valley, they'd have to go by his word. Just hopefully his decision doesn't endanger the entire herd.

Littlefoot walked back to the group. The others were waiting for his return. As the longneck returned, they noticed that three flyers were with them. They recognized Teri and Pterano right away, but it took a while for them to make out Sierra, who was flying up so high they couldn't see him well. As he descended towards the ground, Ducky recognized him immediately.

"Sierra! Littlefoot! Why did you bring him here!"

Pterano smiled softly. "Deja vu..."

The longneck replied, "He says he can help us."

An angry Hyp stormed towards Littlefoot. "I heard stories of what that guy did. Awful things... How do you think we can trust him! For all we know, he'll be leading us right into a trap!"

"Even so, he's the only one who can lead us to an area where the sharptooth definitely won't see us." He tried to explain. "Besides, he's just one sharptooth. Not like if he turns on us all of a sudden, he'll be a threat. I could defeat him with one shot."

Hyp acknowledged that statement. "True, but still, if he leads us into an area surrounded by sharpteeth, we're done for!"

"We'll have to be willing to take that risk! Hyp, if we don't act soon, we'll have that entire valley on our tails!"

"But isn't going there just as bad?" Hyp retorted.

"At least we're prepared to fight!" Littlefoot closed his eyes. "If those sharpteeth came at night, would we be prepared to fight? No! Best to act now!"

Pterano turned his attention to Teri. "My my my, he's starting to sound like Mr. Threehorn more and more everyday..."

Teri agreed. "Looks like they were more alike then we thought..."

Hyp and Littlefoot were still arguing. "Well I say we shouldn't trust him!"

Littlefoot retorted, "But you're not the leader!"

"You're not much of a leader yourself." Hyp smiled darkly. "From what I've heard, all the adventures you've lead always resulted in a sharptooth attacking you and your friends." Littlefoot remained silent. "In fact, that's the very reason we shouldn't go with your idea, letting Sierra help us. It'll just lead into another one of those dangerous encounters."

Littlefoot growled softly. "I am the leader, and if I say he'll lead us, he'll lead us!" He pressed his face against Hyp's. "Got a problem with that, pipsqueak?" A smile curled on his lips.

Hyp gulped, realizing where Littlefoot was going with this. He couldn't fight Littlefoot and he knew that very well. "All right, fine, he'll lead us." He started walking towards Mutt and Nod. He stopped, and looked at Littlefoot through the corner of his eye. "But I'm warning you, Littlefoot. Do not blame me when we are ambushed. This minion of Chomper will only lead us to a trap planned by his dear master."

The longneck rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

From behind him, Ali and Rex walked towards him. Rex was leaning against Ali for a bit of support. The male longneck turned around and found them standing there, looking at him with uncertainty.

Ali spoke first, "Littlefoot, are you sure it's wise to allow a sharptooth lead us to Fortress Valley?"

Rex agreed. "Yeah, what if Hyp's right? What if it is a trap?"

"Look, we don't have much of a choice." He sighed. "No matter if we stay here or go there, trap or no trap, we're gonna have to fight the sharpteeth."

Ali glared at him. "Littlefoot, Rex still hasn't completely healed. If he goes, he'll die for sure!"

Rex mumbled breathlessly, "Thanks for being so positive, Ali..."

Littlefoot, "I know, I know... We will be leaving in a couple days, to allow Rex to heal more."

As he talked with Ali, he had no idea that Sierra was spying on him. The flyer had perched on a nearby tree, and remained hidden in the shadows. Nobody noticed his absence. He almost wanted to scream something on that runner's face when he said that he was loyal to Chomper. He sighed. "Chomper will be pleased..." he said to himself with certain disgust. With that, he took off and left the Great Valley. When he will return, he'll just say he was scouting the outskirts of the Great Valley to see if any sharpteeth were coming there way. Since Littlefoot gave a chance and trusted him, he would believe him.

Ali glared at Littlefoot. "I sure hope you know what you are doing."

Rex nodded. "I hope so as well."

Littlefoot looked up towards the sky. "I know. I know." With that, he turned around and walked away.

Ali and Rex looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Littlefoot. And as this was happening, Sierra was returning to Fortress Valley...

* * *

As Hip and his friends walked away he cursed under his breath. "Stupid longneck, he will kill all of us."

"Well Hyp, we have to do as he say, after all he is in charge." said Mutt.

"Yeah, he really is." agreed Nod.

"Well, idiots like him make leaf-eaters be killed uselessly. That's why I'll leave the valley as soon as I can." said Hyp. His friends shared a look.

"Hyp, I still not understand why do you want to leave the Great Valley. It's safe and no sharptooth can enter here." said Nod.

"Exactly." said Hyp "If no sharptooth can enter here I can't kil any of them."

"Here we go..." chorused the both as they rolled their eyes. Since Hyp's father was killed by that sharptoth he took a hating for all the kind, becoming one that attacked any sharptoth on sight without asking, and going over anyone who stood in his way.

"That monsters will pay for what they did to my father." continued Hyp "I'll only rest when I have seen the last one of them die."


	22. Sharpteeth Rally Up

Part III: The War

Sierra flew over the rocky mountains that surrounded Fortress Valley. With his keen eyesight, he scowered the area, looking for one sharptooth in particular. From way up high, he could see the outline of the entire valley. He finally spotted what he was looking for. Sierra took a few moments and dove down as fast as he could. Other sharptooth looked up and saw the speeding bullet heading their way. There was little panic, however, as many of them knew who and what it was.

Sierra stopped abruptly in midair. He took a quick survey, seeing all the sharpteeth who were looking at him, waiting, watching. He felt a bit nervous, but shook it off. "Chomper, sir, I come back with news." He bowed his head.

Two large red eyes stared back at him, glinting with moonlight and anticipation. "Good. Tell me."

Sierra looked up. "They plan on coming here in a few days' time. Littlefoot said at least five days." Chomper cocked an eyebrow. "It's because one of them needs time to heal."

"Ahh..." Chomper said, understanding. "I see. So Littlefoot doesn't want his precious little friends to get hurt, does he?"

The flying sharptooth hopped back up. "No, sir. Doesn't look like it."

"Sierra?" Chomper cooed softly, as he stared up into the sky.

"Yes?"

"There is one more thing I'd like you to do."

Sierra rooled his eyes. "Anything."

Chomper growled out a single word. "Die."

The sharptooth quickly turned around and rushed forward, mouth open! The movement was so fast that Sierra didn't have time to react. Chomper's jaws clamped around him! The flyer squealed with intense pain as the sharp fangs started to impale his fragile body. Chomper applied pressure, and soon his teeth snapped Sierra's body and crushed it flat. Blood gushed from his mouth and stained his teeth. Bones snapped and crunched inside his mouth. The other sharpteeth winced and flinched as Chomper swallowed the body whole. The only evidence of a body left was the streams of blood on his mouth and blood stained grass.

* * *

Far from there, a dark-brown figure flying to north, away of Fortress Valley, suddenly winced and gasped, like felling a sundden pain. It halted in midair and looked to Fortress Valley. It growled as narrowed it's eyes.

"Chomper." It growled "You sick, bastard double-crosser."

* * *

Loc, one of the sharpteeth there, choked out, "Um...why'd you do that, sir?" Loc, like Chomper, was a horned sharptooth. His horns though, curved inward while Chomper's were straight. Loc has red with a light red belly. His eyes were a bright yellow.

Chomper gave him a sideways glance. "I never intended on him going back. If he spilled the beans, our attack wouldn't work, now would it?" He smiled devilishly. "No, better off to kill him to make sure he doesn't tell." He chuckled evilly.

Loc still seemed a bit disturbed. But he dare not say anything to Chomper. Loc is younger than Chomper, smaller and weaker. One wrong word would be the death of him. "Of course, sir." He backed away to his place. Chomper walked away, and the other sharpteeth returned to what they were doing earlier. Loc seemed a bit uncertain about the sharptooth's plan, but decided to think about it later. He went to the feeding area to eat something. He was starved.

* * *

No one noticed that one of the sharpteeth, a purple one with red eyes, had backed away from them into the woods, and when he was out of sight he let out an explosive exhalation. His knees were very weak and he felt like he was going to drop right there, the scene still very fresh in his mind.

"He kills even the ones that he thinks that are on his side." The sharptooth said to himself. "He is more dangerous than we tought."

* * *

Chomper made his way back to the den where Dil and Ichy were. They had a bit of time to heal, and he knew that bellydraggers could handle a lot of pain. They were very tolerant. However, the sharpbeak could pose a problem. His fragile bones snap way too easily. Chomper thought of killing Ichy, but if he had, Dil wouldn't be able to go anywhere since she was extremely near-sighted and almost blind.

He could see the moon above the valley. It was in the shape of a sickleclaw's talon. For a brief second, he could see blood dripping from the sharp edges. He turned his attention away and came across the den he was looking for. He stepped inside.

It was dark and damp. Water dripping from openings above. There were a few puddles scattered across the place. As his foot stomped into the puddle, he could hear the splashing of water and feel the cold liquid against his feet. He flinched when his skin felt the icy cold water.

"Dil? Ichy?" He shouted, and heard his own echo bounce among the cave walls. "I need to speak with you!"

Almost immediately, Dil and Ichy emerged from the dark quarters of the den. Ichy still looked a bit beat, and was laying on Dil's back. Dil however looked fighting fit. Chomper smirked. This pleased him very well. "What is it, boss?" Ichy asked, gasping a little.

"I am here to tell you that we are preparing for attack."

Ichy flopped onto his back. "But you told us that yesterday..."

"But this time it's now!" Chomper barked ferociously, startling Ichy and Dil. "Littlefoot is planning on coming here in five days! It only takes a few hours to reach this valley from their valley!" He stalked forward, and Dil backed away nervously. "We must head out in a few hours! They'll be defenseless if we head out much earlier than they."

"But I thought you.."

"I don't remember that." Chomper hissed softly. "Those that attack first, win first."

Dil said, "But that's only as long as you don't underestimate your opponent." Chomper turned his head towards the old bellydragger. "Ichy and I made the mistake of underestimating those little brats. They're tough."

"I know." The sharptooth replied. "That is why I'm taking a precaution and bringing along some sharpteeth from here."

Dil and Ichy looked at each other. "We coming too?"

Chomper gave a nasty smile. "Of course you are." Dil and Ichy seemed a bit freaked out. "You two will pick off the smaller dinosaurs that Littlefoot tries to use against us."

* * *

Back outside, a few sharpteet where already gathering up. They knew the time was coming, and they wanted to be ready early to impress the boss. Some of them wanted to be ranked up higher as a general, but most of them were soldiers and a couple were officers. Chomper had never assigned a general other than himself. They think it was because he was selfish and wanted to rule on his own. But others say he just hasn't found the sharptooth with the right skills just yet.

Blueye was there as well, at her side was her daughter, now an almost full-growth sickleclaw, looked almost exactly as her mother, with exception of her coloration. Blueye quickly spotted her little brother, Claw, ahead. They ran forward, and greeted him with smiles. "Hey Claw." "Hi uncle Claw."

Claw did not return the smile. Instead a look of seriousness was on his face. "Hello, Blueye, Sylvia." He didn't have the same giddy personality as Blueye. Claw looked just like Blueye, except he had red eyes, a dark blue body, and white stripes.

"Looks like Chomper's going to be heading out in a few hours." Blueye took a step back. "I am wondering if it's a wise choice."

"Of course it is!" Claw smirked almost playfully. "Those dumb leaf-eaters won't know what hit them."

But his sister still looked unsure. "But what if something goes wrong? What if they know?"

"They won't know." He assured her, and gently nuzzled her face with his own. They didn't noticed that Sylvia seemed unconfortable, like she was terribly nervous.

Nearby, two other sickleclaws were standing there together. They were two females. They weren't sisters. They weren't cousins. They were mother and daughter. One of the dinosaurs was bigger than the other, but not by much. The mother, who was white with red stripes, was named Jade because her eyes were that color. Her daughter, red with white stripes, was named Freeze, because her eyes were pale blue, almost like ice. They stood close to each other, and watched as sharpteeth started gathering up. It was a very exciting night for them all, even if some of them doubted their leader, Chomper.

"Things are started to heat up." Jade said softly.

Freeze nodded. "I know, mother. I know."

Blueye , Sylvia and Claw approached them. Blueye smiled a little, but Claw had a stone face, while Sylvia seemed closed like always, but keeping a hardcore expression. Freeze and Jade looked at them and acknowledged their presence.

"So you ready?" Blueye asked, almost nervously.

"Yes." Jade said firmly. "I am willing to follow Chomper to the death."

Blueye winced. "You think Chomper is leading us well?"

Jade narrowed her eyes. "Those who defy him die."

Before they could continue, Chomper came back. He was closely followed behind by Dil and Ichy. "All right! Enough talking!" Not all the sharpteeth had showed up, but he didn't really care to notice. If the others didn't make it, they'd know where to go: Great Valley.

"Everyone ready to go?" He asked. The sharpteeth nodded their heads once. "Remember, no stopping, no rests. We will continue to march until we get there. You dinosaurs can go a few hours without food or water, can't you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Good. Once we get to the valley, show no mercy." He hissed. "Kill everyone you come across. Kill them! Kill them! Kill them all!"

The sharpteeth roared approvingly, and, as Chomper walked towards the front to lead, the sharpteeth started their journey to the Great Valley...

While they walked Blueye noticed finally that her daughter was very uneasy. She spoke to her softly. "Sylvia dearling, are you alright?"

The younger sickleclaw noticed her mother's voice and quickly answered, keeping a hardcore mood. "No! I mean... A little."

Blueye only smiled to her daughter. "Don't worry dear." she assured "You just have to be yourself." Sylvia looked at her mother, who had said the same thing for her whole life "Be a great fighter and killer. A great sharptooth warrior, like all your ancestors. And different from that weak traitor of your father." she said the last part with a hint of anger, she once again didn't noticed her daughter face fall when she said the last words. Her eyes filled with a sadness.


	23. Reflections

Part III: The War

Dust swirled in the wind. It spun around, carrying a dry root ball across the sandy landscape. The sand was incredibly dry and formed beautiful shapes. But with the wind picking up slightly, the area would turn deadly. Every dinosaur knows that sand is tiny rocks and getting hit by them at high speed can cause damage, especially in the eyes.

As the wind sped up, sand started being blown from their structures and into the air to join the wind. Most of the small animals, like insects and lizards, took cover deeper underground. Those who did not make it were caught in the mercy of the sandstorm.

Only a fool would walk in this type of weather.

A large foot step heavily fell onto the sand, dispersing more into the windy air. Another foot stepped down, and then another. The ground shook as a large beast heedlessly ventured into the sandstorm. It ignored pain as the tiny rocks struck its leathery skin.

"Sandstorm. Just great." It talked in a husky male voice. As he raised his head high above the wind to avoid being hit in the face, something came into view. On his long neck, a long scar snaked from his right eye towards about the middle of his neck. The wound was given to him by a sharptooth.

The dinosaur was Doc, the Lone Dinosaur.

Doc actually died hundreds of years ago, but his restless spirit is what made it possible for him to say on Earth. He could only go to places he really wanted to go, and he couldn't compel himself to stay. He was afraid others would find out his secret. Eating vegetation was a good way to disguise his death secret, but, while the others never noticed, he never slept, and yet was as alert as ever.

He often wondered if anyone figured out his secret. And if they found out, would they shun him? Then again it wouldn't bother him too much. Doc has always been a loner. His rough childhood taught him that making close bonds would only lead to heartache later on. He had to be callous, had to be as emotionless as possible. He would never be hurt if he was like that.

But one thing still stung in his mind. As he secretly watched Littlefoot play when the longneck was still young, he did see a remarkable resemblance. As a youngster, Doc, too, had friends who were different species, and they often played together. The dangers were so similar as well. Littlefoot was so much like himself, before a tragedy changed him forever.

But nevertheless, Littlefoot had the exact same personality and attitude that Doc himself once had when he was a kid. And his lifestyle is very similar. Doc, too, lost his mother to a sharptooth, and had a father who disappeared searching for a better place to nest. He, too, lived with his grandparents until they died. And all of his friends were killed in a horrible battle, one that time forgot.

"I will never forget it..." He hissed under his breath. He was trapped in his own mind, his own thoughts. A long time ago, when he was a teenager, there was a great battle between sharpteeth and leaf-eaters. It took place far from the Great Valley, and left many dead and others mortally injured. No one knew how the whole thing started, but all Doc knew was, when the dust finally settled, bodies of leaf-eaters and sharpteeth lay on the ground, side by side, locked in immortal combat.

It was then he knew he couldn't give in to emotions. "Emotions only slow you down." He once said to himself. He still came for help if someone needed him. But for the most part he kept to himself. He didn't care no longer what people said about him behind his back. He didn't care to notice how they looked at him as he fed away from all other herds, including his own kind. Doc never talked to anyone. He never socialized anymore after the deadly war.

And because he was the only one who survived, he never spoke of the war. And so the evidence of such a battle laid hidden in the desert, near a half formed valley called Skeleton Canyon. He named it that because 90 percent of the bodies were in there. The whole place was riddled with bones! Doc sometimes went there to pay his respects to his friends. But he dare not stay too long. His feelings would return, and he couldn't let that happen.

He feared Littlefoot would suffer a similar fate. He and Littlefoot were so much alike. That is probably why he showed a little bit of compassion towards the young lad. And something about his eyes reminded him of his own. As he stared into Littlefoot's eyes before he left, he could see sadness, determination, and regret in those eyes. They were how his own looked when he found out he was the sole survivor of a forgotten battle.

Doc's eyes widened as a new thought crossed his mind. He learned of a belief known as rebirth. It's said that when someone dies, they come back to life, and sometimes with the same personality. As Doc stared into the rising sun, he pondered this. Could Littlefoot be his reincarnate?

"Help! Help! Help!"

Doc was driven out of his trance by a cry for help. Instinctively he rushed towards the source of the voice. He saw a small dinosaur rolling across the sandy dunes. Quickly he rushed forth and used his long tail to catch the dinosaur as it was lifted into the air. As he looked at it, he realized it was a swimmer, and not very old either. It looked about Ducky's age. Doc lowered his head.

"Who are you?"

"M-M-My name is S-S-Stepper..." It spoke in a female voice.

Doc cocked an eyebrow. "Stepper?"

"Y-Y-Yes." She answered, nodding. She could tell from the look in his face that he thought it was a weird name. But Stepper had heard weirder names before. She may have been a swimmer, like Ducky, but unlike Ducky, she would grow to be larger, and she had a long crest that extended above her long spine. She was a dull green with black markings, but her crest and forehead were decorated in bright colors. Orange, yellow, and red to be more precise.

"Why are you running?" Doc asked.

"T-T-T-T-There's s-s-s-something going on i-i-in the G-G-G-Great Valley!" She stammered, pointing frantically in the direction she came from. "I-I-I left to g-g-g-go find h-h-help!"

"Is that why you are stuttering?" He asked out of the blue, completely ignoring what she said about the Great Valley.

Stepper glared at him. "I-I-I-It's a problem t-that I c-c-can't control, o-o-o-okay!" Apparently Stepper had a problem which caused her to stutter and no matter how hard she's tried, she couldn't stop it.

"Well gee, sorry, little lady." He said callously. "Why are you running from the Great Valley?"

"S-S-S-See m-m-mister, sharpteeth! S-S-So many sh-sh-sharpteeth! G-G-Gathering u-u-u-u-up! D-D-D-D-Didn't stand a ch-ch-ch-chance! V-V-Valley u-u-under attack!" She screamed.

Doc's eyes widened in horror. It couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening! "No...not again..."

"I-I-I-It's a war b-b-between sh-sharpteeth a-and l-l-leafeaters!" The swimmer shouted.

That made Doc realize the horrible truth. Because he had failed to tell others of his story of the forgotten war, nobody learned from the past. And because they didn't learn, they would repeat what happened.

History was repeating itself.

* * *

In somewhere else an fastrunner was running at his top speed. This was a male, a crimson fastrunner (like Ruby) with eyes of a dark-green that were now narrowed in anger. His direction was pointed towards the Great Valley. He was moving without looking to the sides, just straight forward to his destination, when suddenly something got in his way.

It was a purple runner, very similar to Hyp, he put himself on the way of the fastrunner "What do you think you're doing Vanny?" He asked the fastrunner, whose only answer was "Get out of my way Bari. I'm tired of being with crossed arms while Chomper spread chaos. I'm taking the lead now."

"So you keep part on the war? And reveal to everyone about us?" The runner called Bari asked. "Who died and make of you the leader of the Order?" Vanny, the fastrunner only glared angrily at him.

"So you agree with them? Are you in favor of letting everyone die uselessly? I tought you were better than this." Bari only give back the glare.

"YOU THINK I LIKE THIS?" he screamed at the top of his lungs, startling the oviraptor "You think I like standing here while the others die? That I like to just watch sharpteeth and leafeaters killing one another? That I like to just stay still, going against the exact same reason why I wanted to join the Order?" he then adopted a very sad and frustrated look "What this was suppose to represent?" He said gesturing to his waist.

Any other dinosaur that haven't experience, even the most smart and advanced ones would strange the artefact the runner was using in his waist. It was a belt, one that seemed be made of a strange material that seemed silver, but was more clear. In the base front of his belt there was a symbol, a tree-star with what seemed to be a sharptooth's tooth carved over it in. The belt seemed heavy, but actually had no weight and restricted in nothing the runners movements. The most curious of all is that the belt could not be seen before, like it had just be turned visible as the runner pointed it out.

The fastrunner them adopted a sad look on his face, he reached over his neck, touching a necklace that if someone looked before could swear that was not in there, it had the same symbol of the runner's belt. "Sometimes I wonder what is the really meaning of the Order."

The runner only sighed "If the decision was for me we would have acted long ago. But it is over Zeitan to act, as he is the head of the Order council. And you know how he is." The fastrunner only nodded and looked away. "I just wish we can act soon, before even more lives be lost."


	24. The Consequences

Part III: The War

"I knew that sharptooth couldn't be trusted!" Pterano snarled as he banked to the left to avoid a diving sharptooth. The sharptooth clashed against the walls. It was dazed for a few secods, but was instantly back on its feet and took off again. Pterano gulped. "Oh wonderful... Flying into walls doesn't work..."

"Neither does clashing two together!" Teri shouted as she flew by. She was quickly hounded by two sharptooth flyers.

Pterano was so shocked by what he just saw that he forgot to look where he was going. When he finally realized his eyes weren't on the road, it was too late. He smacked right into a wall!

"Ooooo..." He moaned as he slid down the side of a mountain wall. He shook his head to regain his stability, just as a shadow loomed over him. He opened his eyes and saw rows of huge sharp teeth. Screaming, he backed away, only to be pressing up against a wall.

He tried to get up, but screamed when he opened his wing span. Searing pain went through his body and he fell back down. He cursed to himself. He must've broken something when he crashed into the wall. He couldn't fly!

The huge teeth belonged to a bellydragger. More specifically, they belonged to Dil. Perched on her head was Ichy, who was licking his beak. He hopped onto Dil's nose as the crocodile snarled and blew air from her nose.

Ichy pointed at the cornered flyer. "I wanted to have a meal with that Petrie guy..." At this, Pterano glared hatefully at the sharpbeak. Ichy responded with an arrogant grin. "But you'll do... Sic 'im Dil!"

Dil answered, "With pleasure, Ichy." She opened up her huge mouth, drool dripping from her remaining sharp teeth. As she lunged forward, all Pterano could do was stare...and scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The scream echoed against the mountain walls.

Petrie, who was dodging aerial attacks, heard his uncle's screams. "Uncle Pterano!" He banked to the right and flew to in the direction of the scream.

* * *

Hyp grabbed the tail of a sickleclaw and tossed it around in a circle. He let go, and the creature flew headfirst into a wall. But somehow, it managed to get back on its feet and still attack. "How is that possible?" He asked in horror.

Mutt dodged an attack from another sickleclaw. "I don't know, Hyp!"

Nod said, "It's like they're not from this world..." He used his tail to knock away Loc, who was trying to attack him from behind.

Loc landed on his back and moaned. "Stupid leaf-eater..." He grumbled, and struggled back onto his feet. Without even shrugging himself off, he charged after Nod again.

Nod braced himself. Loc glared, and opened his mouth. The plant eater braced for an attack, but it didn't come. Confused, Nod lowered his tail and eyed the sharptooth with curiousity.

Loc smiled. "Fool..."

He lunged forward and sank his teeth into Nod's head. The shieldback screamed in agony as he felt his head being crushed. He could feel his jaw and cranium crack under the pressure of the sharptooth's jaws around him. He could feel the bone surrounding his brain cavity start to cave in, and then all of a sudden, he went limp. His head had been crushed. Blood oozed everywhere.

"Nod! No!" Mutt yelled. He rushed towards Loc and formed a fist. He pulled it back and connected it to the sharptooth's jaw. The sharaptooth howled in pain as he was thrown back about a foot into the ground and onto his back. He looked at the angry two-legged leaf-eater, eyes red with hatred.

Loc wiped his jaw and sniffed it. A trinkle of blood was flowing from his mouth. It was only a little cut. A minor set back is all it was. He laughed.

"Why are you laughing!" Mutt demanded, tears of sadness and anger appearing in his eyes. "You murdered my friend!"

"Yeah?" Loc said, as if it was no big deal. "What'cha gonna do about it, punk? Kill me?"

Completely ignoring the fact that the sharptooth could speak to him in his own language, Mutt answered the question, "Yes!"

"Well, bring it on..." He motioned for Mutt to come and get him. "I'd love to see you try and kill me."

With fire in his eyes, Mutt ran forward, bracing himself for fighting. Loc braced himself as well, for impact. As the large leaf-eater made contact with him, the force was enough to cause them to roll away from Hyp, who was still fighting the sickleclaws. Mutt and Loc rolled away and landed about a mile away from where they originally wear.

Mutt opened his eyes. He was horrified to see that he was on the bottom. He looked up and saw Loc's mouth opened. He whimpered as he saw the sharp teeth, coming slowly in his direction.

"It was not a smart idea to mess with me, punk." Loc said as he closed his jaws around Mutt's throat. Without even letting him utter a scream, he ripped out Mutt's windpipe with one swift movement. All motion ceased in the young plant-eater's body. Blood spread all around the two, creating a large pool of red liquid.

* * *

Hyp suddenly realized he was alone. But he was too busy to even say anything about it. The sickleclaws kept on coming. They hissed and growled. Hyp felt a shudder as he thought he would understand what they were saying...

"Tear him open!"

"Rip out his guts!"

"Strike him in the throat!"

Hyp shook a little, and strike a sickleclaw that lunged at him.

That was when he found himself faced with another sickleclaw, a light-green one with olive-green strips and turquoise-blue eyes. It was Sylvia. She growled at him, but only for one second, then her eyes widened, along with Hyp's. For one moment both the sharptooth and the leaf-eater could have the same sensations: heart thundering in the chest, hands sweating, knees weak, they both keep there just staring at one another, with that strange felling in their stomachs. Both of them wondering what on the world was happening to them.

Suddenly Hyp was knocked down by something from behind. He turned his head and saw a pale yellow black-striped sickleclaw. It was Blueye.

The raptor stared at him hungrily, her blue eyes with a speck of red in the center. She hissed something, and smiled twistedly. Hyp suddenly found himself covered with a pile of the raptors, slashing and cutting him. He screamed for help, but his words were silenced when one raptor, Jade, diced her claw into his neck.

Hyp's eyes widened as he felt the sickleclaw puncture his windpipe and vital blood vessels. Blood quickly flooded from his neck, drenching the grass around him. His vision was becoming blurry. He frantically waved his hands, when it suddenly grabbed a clawed hand, but he only hold it for a second, because he almost immeditaly let go as he felt like a sudden electric bold had gone trough his hand. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Blueye's smiling face. Then he, too, stopped moving.

* * *

Meanwhile, Littlefoot and Ali were fighting off a pack of larger sharpteeth. The attack had come so suddenly. Littlefoot didn't even have time to leave the valley with his troops. The sharpteeth just appeared out of nowhere.

"There's so many!" Ali shouted, knocking down a yellow sharptooth.

"I know! I don't know where they're all coming from!" He knocked down another yellow sharptooth. "I mean, I knew there were a lot from Fortress Valley, but I didn't think they'd come this fast!"

Ali struck another sharptooth. "Yeah, and it seems like nothing can stop their advance!"

Teri flew overhead, and quickly shouted, "We've lost Hyp, Nod, and Mutt!"

Littlefoot. "No..." He shook his head. He turned to Ali. "We have to get out of there!"

Ali looked shocked. "But...what about..."

"We'll find survivors, and find a safe place to hide!" He looked around, seeing sharptooth almost flood certain parts of the valley. "There's too many meat eaters there, Ali. We have to go!"

"All right..." She reluctantly agreed.

* * *

Petrie searched for the source of the voice. He suddenly spotted two familiar figures. He glared angrily. It was Ichy and Dil. He would recognize them anywhere! Forgetting all fear, he swooped down and hovered in front of the two meat eaters. They seemed shocked at first, but relaxed as they realized it was only Petrie.

"What do you want, little one?" Ichy growled.

"What you do to Uncle Pterano?" He demanded.

Ichy chuckled. "Let's just say we had a very...interesting meeting."

"And...quite tasty." Dil licked her chops.

As horror and realization kicked on, Petrie felt rage cloud his mind. "You...You...MONSTERS!" He forgot all rational thought and he dove in to attack.

Ichy, unfazed, took into flight. "You wanna mess with me, kid?"

"You eat my uncle! Now you pay!"

Ichy smiled. "Bring it on..."

* * *

As the battle in the Great Valley went on, a large longneck was bolting towards the valley as fast as he could go. "Don't worry, Littlefoot. I'm coming!" Doc thought as he could finally see the valley in the distance. "I just hope I'm not too late..."


	25. Flight and Love

Part III: The War

Petrie stood his ground as Ichy swooped, his mouth open. Petrie shuddered as he looked at all those small sharply hooked teeth that filled Ichy's mouth. Ichy's beak was sharp as well, so even if he couldn't bite Petrie, he could still slash him with the hooked part of his beak.

"You asked for it, kid." Ichy laughed as he lunged faster, aiming the blow at Petrie's neck. The flyer immediately evaded it by flying upwards. Ichy slammed into the ground where the flyer once was.

Petrie knew he couldn't face Ichy with his own beak. Petrie didn't have a sharp beak, and it wouldn't injure the sharpbeak much at all. He didn't have claws either. His only chance to defeat Ichy was to outmaneuver him and outwit him.

Ichy quickly got up, and brushed off the dirth that had collected in between his long wing feathers. He looked up and could see Petrie flying away. The flyer was heading towards the mountain walls that surrounded the valley.

"You trying to escape, are you?" Ichy was about to take off when he could feel himself being gently pulled down by a large mouth. He turned around. "What is it Dil?" He was amazed Dil could catch him even though she was completely blind now.

Dil's eyes were wide and almost sad looking. The pale blue pupils, once bold black, stared into blank space. "Don't fly away, Ichy. You know I can't see anymore."

Ichy rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a good sense of smell and hearing?"

"I can't hear so good, or smell so good..." She murmured.

"Geeze..." Ichy slapped himself in the face. "No wonder you rely on me so much!"

Dil snarled, but she didn't reply. She refused to let Ichy go, though. She didn't want to be left alone, especiall in war when she had a great disadvantage. Ichy struggled to get his tail feathers out of her mouth, but her jaws were clamped too tightly. And if he removed his tail feathers, he wouldn't be able to fly at all.

"Come on, Dil...Let go!"

"No!"

* * *

Petrie stopped abruptly as he realized he wasn't being followed. He looked down where Ichy and Dil were. He noticed the bellydragger was hanging onto the sharpbeak, preventing him from leaving. Petrie did soon realize that Dil could not see, so if Ichy left, she would be vulnerable.

"Me should attack, but maybe me should wait see what happen next." Petrie debated with himself. Moving in for a sudden attack could save his life. But it could also end it as well. He whimpered. The decision was difficult to make. Part of him didn't want to do it. The other half told him to do it. But he finally made up his mind.

He was going to flee.

Petrie didn't waste anytime in flying in the direction he was originally going. He wasn't safe staying there very long anyway. Even if Ichy didn't chase him, he had to worry about the other sharptooth flyers. He couldn't see any in the mean time, but that didn't mean that they weren't there.

The flyer glided cautiously through the cracks in the wall. He knew he couldn't look around for very long in this place. If he looked away for too long, he'd slam into a wall. He shuddered. That must've been what did his uncle in...

"Poor Pterano..." He sniffled. Tears streamed down his face.

Suddenly a new anger started to grow inside him. It started out as a minor dislike. But it rapidly grew into almost hatred. Hatred towards several persons whom he believed responsible for his uncle's death. Dil, Ichy, Chomper, and...Littlefoot. Petrie's eyes narrowed.

"If Littlefoot only listen to Pterano...this never would have happened... If only he listen!" He screamed.

He gasped and shut his beak tightly. Taking a risk, he scanned his area nervously, and quickly turned attention back to flying. He didn't spy any evil flyers nearby, but he refused to let his guard down.

But he still couldn't shake the anger eating away at his heart. He knew he couldn't turn against Littlefoot, for doing so could result in his own demise. But he also knew he couldn't fully trust Littlefoot again. Littlefoot didn't take Pterano's advice, and it led to this invasion.

"What to do...what to do...?" He moped.

* * *

As Petrie was pondering this, down below somewhere, Littlefoot and Ali were standing in a small cave in the wall. They didn't know where the others were, and they knew that this was the safest place for them to be.

"Littlefoot...what's going to happen?" Ali looked in horror at what had become of the Great Valley. Blood was everywhere. Bodies of both sharpteeth and leaf-eater lay on the ground. Many of them were locked in combat. She shed a tear for them, and lowered her head. "Why? Why did it have to come down to this?"

Littlefoot looked at her sadly. He, too, was appalled by what had happened. "There was nothing we could do about it."

Ali glared at him. "We should've acted faster! We...we shouldn't have trusted Sierra. You shouldn't trusted him..." She took a step back, not taking her eyes off his.

The male longneck lowered his head. "I know...I know..." He let out a sigh. "I-I don't know why I trusted him, Ali... I guess that..." Ali tilted an eyebrow. "I guess with my anger towards Chomper's betrayal..I..." He struggled to get the words out. "I was willing...to believe anything...that could allow me...to...make Chomper pay...for the pain he's caused here..."

His body started shaking. "But you are right... I shouldn't have trusted Sierra. It's my fault this happened. All my fault..." He could feel his salty tears stain his face.

Ali was stunned. She'd never seen Littlefoot like this before. She cautiously approached his trembling form. "Littlefoot...I..." But she couldn't get any words to come out.

Littlefoot looked at her. "I've been mistakes before, Ali. This isn't the first time...I...I got everyone in danger. But this...this is the...worst thing I've...done..."

"You didn't cause this." Ali tried to comfort him.

"Don't lie." He shook his head. "If I didn't trust Sierra..."

Ali intervened. "But we don't even know if Sierra actually told Chomper anything." But she knew she was wrong. And Littlefoot was quick to point it out.

"Then how come the sharptooth attack came earlier than expected? And in much larger numbers?"

"I..." She knew she was so very wrong. "I know I'm wrong...I'll admit that." She looked at him directly in the eyes. "But another thing I know is if you make a mistake, you should try and fix it."

"Fix it!" Littlefoot snapped, almost angrily. He gestured his head towards the bloody battlefield outside. "How am I going to fix that!"

Ali walked towards him and gently nuzzled him with her snout. "You will find a way. You just have to believe in yourself." She backed away. "Littlefoot, my mother taught me, no matter how bad things get, there is always hope."

Littlefoot gave a small smile. "Thanks, Ali. That means a lot."

Ali smiled back. "No problem."

Littlefoot looked back out there for a few seconds, then back at Ali. "You think we'll live through this? Together?"

(A/N The reason why I have Ali act the way she does here is due to what's going on around her.)

The female longneck was a little confused by this statement. "What do you mean? I'm sure we'll make it." Then another thought crossed her mind. Before Littlefoot could say anything else, she interrupted him before he began to talk.

Ali walked closer to him. "I know this is a little sudden...but...I...I love you."

The longneck felt the shock spread to all corners of his mind. "You...love me?" He started to feel his heart racing.

"And...there's something...I always wanted to do..." She gave him 'the look' and grinned slightly.

Littlefoot gulped. "Oh boy..."

"I hope it is."

Littlefoot's eyes went wide. He couldn't say anything. All he could do was watch as Ali approached him slowly with that eerie smile on her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, Petrie had a little run-in with a dark flyer. He glared at the fanged flying animal. It was male. He was black with streaks of red on his wing membrane and a red collar. He looked like Petrie's kind but he didn't have an impressive crest like Pterano and he had sharp teeth.

"Where do you think you're going, punk?" He mocked. His name was Gorjak.

"Me going to find Littlefoot!"

"And how...are you gonna do that..?" He sneered.

Petrie snapped. "By getting past you!"

He suddenly dove forward. Gorjak reacted as well. Petrie was trying to make a clean break underneath the dark flyer. Gorjak realized this and dove down to intercept Petrie. He missed.

"Bye bye!" Petrie cried out as he flew around to locate Littlefoot and maybe Ali or Rex.

But the dark flyer wasn't going down without a fight. "Oh no...no you don't..." He hissed. He chased after Petrie at his top speed. He was incredibly fast, faster than any normal flyer.

Petrie wasn't surveying his area. His entire mind was focused on finding Littlefoot. He didn't see the dark flyer behind him. He didn't see Gorjak open his jaws. And he certainly didn't see him swooping down for the kill at almost 200 miles per hour...

* * *

Meanwhile, in a far place, a clearing, 60 feet wide with some flowers around, rested a dark-brown longneck, he just sat there staring at the sky, he had yellow dark eyes, and in his neck was necklace with a symbol made of silver material of a treestar with an sharptooth's tooth carved in it.

This longneck in particular was angry. Angry because they just were standing there, letting all those horrible things to happen. The wind, that was calm, suddenly started to blow strong, as it had become angry along with the longneck.

"Wow, what an angry wind we have today!" said a voice next to the longneck, startling him and making him look down. He faced a crimson fast biter with yellow eyes and a scar over his neck, he was wearing a ring on his right hand that had a symbol identical to the longneck necklace. Once he saw him he calmed down "Hi Doro."

"Delan." the fast biter replied. They both keep a silence for a few moments, none knowing what to do or say, even Doro, who was normally happy, playful and jovial was felling the weight of the current situation.

"I just wish we could act soon." Doro said to Delan, the longneck. "I'm getting already tired of this."

"Then why don't we act?" the both longneck and fast biter turned to the source of the new voice, and saw another fast biter approaching, one that was almost identical to Doro, but had a scar over his right eye and used a ring in his left hand, with the same symbol. "Of course that cowards of the council will not do anything" He said. "We must ignore them and act now!"

"But Toro-" intermissed another fast biter that were right beside the first, this too looked very similar to Doro, except that he had no scar, and used a bracelet on his right arm, his voice denoted fear "We received orders, and with we try to fight them all of them without help we would probably be killed."

"Them we would die doing something Loro." the fast biter screamed in the face of the other, making him jump and yelp. That was when another fas biter intervened.

This was very similar to the others, but he had a scar over his chest and used a bracelet on his left arm. "Well, this is one of the rare occasions I agree with Toro. We must act now." He said with a determined tone.

"Thank you Soro." Toro said.

"Loro is right." said another voice. it was to a similar sharptooth, but this one had a "x" scar over his left cheek, and used a necklace with the same symbol. "Act now would be foolishness. We need to think before we actually act."

"Zoro!" Toro screamed.

"Why you keep fighting about a lost cause?" intermitted another last fast biter, very similar to the others, but this one had one leg limp due to an old wound and used a belt with the same symbol of the others.

"Oh, great."

"If the council is not willing to help, them is because there is nothing to be done." Noro said with a dark, sorrowful voice "It is indeed a lost cause."

"Yeah, yeah. There's nothing to be done, everything is going to end bad, blah, blah, blah..." mocked Doro. Delan could only look at the six fast biters as they debated. It was almost impossible to believe that they're all brothers, all come from the same clutch.

Delan could only let them alone and look again at the sky, thinking that maybe some of them were right. Maybe the council really tought of this being a lost cause. Why else would they want the order to keep omit?


	26. The Lone Dinosaur Return

Part III: The War

"Look out!" A sudden voice boomed. Petrie turned around and shrieked when he saw a flash of claws and teeth in front of him. Then just as suddenly, a flash of something else zipped by him. A scream from an enemy could be heard. As Petrie tried to make sense of everything that just happened, a voice calmy asked him, "Are you all right?"

"Who there?" Petrie asked, bobbing his head up and down, searching for the voice.

"I'm over here, Petrie."

Petrie shuddered. "How you know me name?"

"Surely you remember me." The voice laughed from behind him.

Petrie swerved around and gasped at what he saw. "Doc! That you?" He flew closer. The old longneck hadn't seem to age a day. Petrie could still see the scar that snaked along the side of the dinosaur's neck.

"Yes." Doc smiled, but it turned serious. "Petrie, I need to find Littlefoot."

At the mention of Littlefoot's name, Petrie's heart boiled in anger. "What you want him for?" The anger in Petrie's voice puzzled Doc. "He cause this mess!"

Doc thought about that. "I don't think he meant to, Petrie..."

"But he still cause it!" Petrie yelled, startling the Lone Dinosaur. "He trust Sierra, then sharpteeth come early! We no prepare for battle! If Littlefoot listen to Pterano, this no happen!" Petrie gasped between breaths. "It all Littlefoot's fault!"

Doc took a step back. Petrie's attitude reminded him almost of Stepper, whom was lost before he even got to the valley. Stepper was also angry with Littlefoot and blamed him for what happened. She left to find help, and she found Doc.

Doc looked at the angry flyer. He wondered if he should be more afraid of him than Gorjak, whom he knocked away with his long tail. The plant-eating flyer's eyes seem to have fire inside them.

"Now look Petrie..."

"Why!" He snapped.

The Lone Dinosaur sighed. "In times like this, one sometimes must make hard choices, Petrie." After not getting a response, Doc continued, "I don't think Littlefoot meant any harm, little flyer. He was only trying to help."

Petrie snarled, "But his so-called help is destroying the valley!"

"You may be upset, Petrie. But how do you think Littlefoot feels? How do you think he feels, knowing what he did? The mistake he made?" Doc asked softly.

Petrie's glare softened a little. But he still wasn't convinced. "He should pay..."

"And pay he will, if this repeating of thep past is true." Doc realized too late the words he was saying and before he knew it, they were out. "Ooops..." He murmured.

The puzzled flyer drew closer. "What you mean...?" Petrie asked, his head tilting to one side. "What you talking about?"

Doc closed his eyes. "Petrie, there's something that you should know about this battle..." Then he opened them and looked at the flyer in the eyes. "I'm a ghost, Petrie." Petrie's color drained from his face. "I really am the Lone Dinosaur. Anyway, when I was still alive, there was a war, Petrie, much like this one. The sides were the same. Sharpteeth against Leaf-Eaters. The point of the war was stupid, really. I don't even remember it."

He paused to take a few breaths, and continued, "Anyway, it took place away from here, in some sort of canyon. Forgot the name. Been so long." He sighed. "The battle was just as devastating. I was the only survivor, or so I had long thought. There was a sharptooth who was still alive. He had horns."

Petrie shuddered as he remembered Chomper's long white horns. "Go on."

"He suddenly attacked me, from behind. He was the leader. He threatened to build a bigger army and attack the Great Valley, which at the time supported both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth."

Petrie interrupted. "Sharpteeth used to live in the valley?" Doc nodded. "Why they leave?"

"I can't say for sure. Anyway, this horned sharptooth hated the sharpteeth in the valley. It was because these sharpteeth believed in balance and agreed to only eat the sick, weak, and injured to help the leaf-eater herds stay strong and live longer. The horned sharptooth wanted to put an end to this, and wanted to attack the valley." Doc closed his eyes. "I knew I had to stop him, at any cost. See, it was my fault the sharptooth knew about the valley, so I had to pay...with my life."

Petrie gulped, and he could feel his heart racing. "You...died?" Doc nodded. "Sharptooth kill you?" Another nod.

"He died as well." Doc said with a small smile. "I pushed him off a cliff."

The flyer lowered his head. "What this has to do with Littlefoot...?"

"Littlefoot...is my reincarnation."

A wave of shock almost knocked Petrie right out of the sky.

"I will never forget that horned sharptooth. His horns weren't that impressive at all. Puny actually. But he was definitely different... and those red eyes...those piercing red eyes." He winced as he recalled the horrible memories.

Petrie's eyes snapped open. "Red eyes...?"

Doc nodded. "Yes. He had red eyes. Olive green skin too, and sharp fins on his back..."

"Chomper has them too!" Petrie chirped suddenly. "Chomper try to kill us because of his father!"

Doc lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? What was his father's name?"

Petrie thought about this for a minute. "It was Slasher!"

"Slasher..? But...that's impossible..." Doc muttered, eyes wide in shock.

"Why?" Petrie asked.

"Slasher...was the name of the horned sharptooth who I killed...all those years ago..."

* * *

Sometime later, back in the hideout, Littlefoot and Ali nestled beside each other. They both had fallen asleep.

"Littlefoot! Ali!" A voice suddenly woke them up.

"Who...what?" Littlefoot muttered as he and Ali groggily opened their eyes.

"Rex?" Ali whispered.

"What are you doing here?" Littlefoot asked, though he knew it was a stupid question.

"The sharpteeth have disappeared!" Rex said happily. "They're gone!"

"But don't be happy for long..." They all turned to see Doc standing there. Petrie helped him find them.

"Doc...?" Littlefoot and Ali were very confused by all that was happening.

Doc glared at Littlefoot. "This is only the eye of the storm."

* * *

Somewhere else, the two-crested swimmer Zera was with two companions, one grey sickleclaw with light-blue colored eyes and a pink fast biter. Both were females and all of then were using bracelets with the symbol of a treestar with a sharptooth's tooth carved.

Zera opened her eyes "Some of the invasors sharpteeth left the valley."

The pink fast biter looked at her friends. "Well, this is already a good thing. Right?"

The sickleclaw sighed "Yes Hanna, it is a good thing. But of course they will come back, and in bigger number."

The fast biter named Hanna only looked back at her friend. "Are you sure Melissa?"

"It is happening like last time, all those time ago." Melissa, the sickleclaw said with disgust. "And again we keep here without doing nothing." she finished with anger and grief.

All the females lowered their heads in sadness "What the council is waiting to act?" asked Zera. "They're waiting for a signal of the spirits or something?"

Melissa only could answer "If we want to do something before is to late, we better hope that they decide to forget the spirits."


	27. When in Doubt

Part III: The War

Night had fallen on the valley. A small breeze encircled the dead leaves that had fallen. The stars twinkled in the light. The moon was completely round and white. The moonlight reflected onto the ground, illuminating whatever it touched. It may have been night, but the moon provided enough light for any nocturnal creature to see. The wind picked up again, stronger this time, and a rock or two rolled from its resting spot, making clattering sounds as they bounced downward. Dark clouds were rolling across the skies, and seemed to devour the stars as it continued moving forward. The moon then seemed to be swallowed up, and everything became dark again. Among this darkness, just outside the valley walls, a group of animals marched away, some battered and beaten, others with deep gashes, and bleeding heavily. All were bipedal, and all had their heads bowed in shame.

It was the sharpteeth who invaded the valley not that long ago.

They were marching to a safe place for healing. They weren't the only sharpteeth whom Chomper had brought. Their friends could deal with the leaf-eaters. For the moment, they needed rest. When they did reach a safe haven, they sat down on the ground. The area they had picked was about 5 miles away from the Great Valley. It was among large walls which seemed to form some sort of "false" valley. Large tooth-like structures hung low, and others seemed to grow from the ground. These were strange because everyone thought that these kind of structures only formed inside caves. Then they looked up and they could see how it was probably possible for these to be formed outside a cave.

Running along on top was a deep river. It curved along the edge and avoided going over. It seemed almost cowardly in its behavior, not forming into a waterfall like most rivers end up doing. A bird suddenly flew by, and landed in the water. A few drops of water splashed downward, and landed in Jade's eye.

The female sickleclaw shook her head furiously, and wiped her eye with her arm quickly. She growled in frustration, and blinked her eye rapidly, restoring her vision. She looked up, and gave a loud hiss of disapproval. She quickly moved away to avoid being hit again, and sat down next to her daughter. She looked tenderly at one of Freeze's wounds she recieved on her arm. Freeze was struck by Spike's tail. His sharp spikes had pierced her arm, and left a deep gash going from her elbow to her wrist. Jade pressed her nose against the wound, sniffed, and started to lick the wound gently.

While this, Sylvia aproached the river, looking at her reflection. She hadn't killed any leaf-eater herself, but she had a few droplets of blood in her face and claws. She stared at the sickleclaw looking her back from the water, before picking up some water in her hands and washing over her body, clening away the blood. Many sickleclaws already knew this habit of her, so no one gave her a second look. Maybe that was no one noticed that she seemed anxious to get te blood out of her body.

(A/N The ridgeheads are dilophosaurs.)

The group was made up of about eiht sickleclaws and about four ridgeheads. That made a total of twelve dinosaurs. The ridgeheads were youngsters, and not fully grown. For the time, they were about the same size as sickleclaws, but their species grew larger than a velociraptor. All the large sharpteeth stayed in the valley. They hid to heal themselves as well, but they refused to leave. The smaller sharpteeth, especially the sickleclaws, knew from experience that when one can't fight, it is wise to flee the area immediately. The large sharpteeth were asking to be attacked without defense, just like they had attacked the leaf-eaters without warning.

The ridgeheads were only about the age that Littlefoot was when he met Chomper. But these kids tagged along with the adults for a very good reason: they looked venomous. Most leaf-eaters believe that dilophosaurs were venomous because they never saw an adult before. They thought that tiny dinosaurs like ridgeheads needed venom to kill their prey. And young ridgeheads were brightly colored with red, yellow, and black, which further makes the distinction that they are venomous. But dilophosaurs and other sharpteeth know the truth. No ridgehead was actually venomous. But making the plant-eaters believe they were was an advantage.

By showing up, they could spook a herd, and single out an individual, and the large adults attack it. And never once do any other dinosaur see. That's because ridgeheads have yet another secret. Like a few horned sharpteeth, they could camouflauge themselves, and completely disappear in their environment. An adult ridgehead could walk among a plant-eater and not get noticed. Only the youngsters were brightly colored, because they do not possess the camouflauge technique.

One of the ridgeheads, Axe, spoke up. "What is going to happen now?" He was the smallest in the group and the weakest. But he was the fastest, and his speed was essential in hunting. Axe was yellow with a red head and tail and black limbs. His eyes were bright green-yellow.

His sister, Firr, giggled almost playfully. She was the smartest in the group. "Silly, we sit and wait. The large dinosaurs will tell us what to do." She was red with yellow limbs and a black head and tail. Her eyes were dark blue.

"Yeah, so why don't you relax?" That voice belonged to the largest and strongest in the group, Knight. He was black with a yellow head and red limbs and tail. His eyes were a red-violet.

The final ridgehead, a female, stood up. "Well you can't blame him for being a bit cautious." She was named Cote. Cote's body was red. Her head was yellow and her tail was also yellow. Her limbs were black and her eyes were a pale blue.

One of the male velociraptors, Red, turned his head towards the youngsters. "You two be quiet. We all had a rough day." Red was dark red in color with a light blue belly. He lacked stripes, though. He had long feathers growing from his head, which only the strongest of males possessed. The feathers were as sign of strength and won them a lot of females. Red himself fathered many children, one of which was Freeze. But since sickleclaws don't mate for life, Jade was not Red's only mate.

"We all know." answered Shadow, a smaller male. He was pure black in color with bright yellow eyes. He, too, lacked stripes. He had no feathers either. "We could attack at night, because most herbivores can't see that well in the dark. We would have the advantage.

Red swatted him on the head. "Are you mad! Blueye told us that it would be better if we came out here!"

"Then why didn't she come out with us?" Jade asked cautiously.

Her former mate shook his head. "I do not know, Jade. I do not know. I think it's because she went with Chomper. He probably had something planned for her." He looked into Jade's green eyes. "And you know what will happen if any of us defies one of Chomper's orders." Jade shuddered as she thought about it.

Freeze spoke up. "I may be loyal to Chomper, but hasn't anyone else here besides me wondered why he never ranks anyone other than himself as a general?" The group muttered and some nodded. "I mean, I understand if he hasn't found a suitable sharptooth, but still, with all these sharpteeth at his command, you'd think he'd appoint at least one other sharptooth to be a general like himself."

Freeze lowered her head. "What if he is hiding something? Why else would he deny any one else the title of general? Generals are allowed any place at any given time. They are the only ones who can act without Chomper's say so."

Jade gently nuzzled her daughter. "Freeze, you shouldn't accuse Chomper of such things. I'm sure he has a pretty good reason why he's not appointing anyone general."

Freeze glared at Jade. "And what would that be, mother!" Jade couldn't say anything. She was at a loss of words.

"I can tell you." A medium sized raptor walked a bit closer. Other than a few green stripes along his back and limbs, he was solid light tan. Everyone called him Sandstorm. Sandstorm's light red eyes looked at Freeze's worried face. "You have the right to be cautious of General Chomper, little one.

"And what do you know, Officer Sandstorm?" Red asked. Sandstorm was the only officer among the group.

Sandstorm didn't move, didn't blink. He just kept looking at Freeze, the pale blue eyes slightly wide. The tawny sickleclaw then gave a small smile. "There's a lot about General Chomper that you guys don't know. The truth is he's not greedy, and he knows well that a few sharpteeth are worthy of the title. But why doesn't he do so, you ask? Well the answer is simple really." He sucked in a deep breath, and let it out. "General Chomper doesn't want anyone screwing up his plans. He knows that if one individual commands a troup, and they attack without him knowing, they could screw things up for him. If General Chomper gave such power to another individual, it would mean disaster for him and his cause."

"And that's a bad thing...? I mean if we follow a strong leader..." Firr began, but he was interrupted by Sandstorm.

"Listen child, it is a bad thing." He hissed almost angrily. "You see, if General Chomper does not appoint any other generals, then he would control everything. That might not sound like a bad thing at first, but think about it. When one gains too much power, he would become a threat to everyone, including those who work for him. If he gains too much control, he would send out minions while he sits down and watches!"

"But he's not like that now..." Jade said softly, her head turned away from Officer Sandstorm's face.

Sandstorm nodded. "Well he's not...yet... But whose to say that he won't become like that?"

"Only time will tell."

"Of course...only time." Sandstorm said softly. "But I'm warning you, if all these sharpteeth continue listening to General Chomper, bad things will happen! Not just to the leaf-eaters, but to us as well!"

A cruel laughing could be heard as a dark purple figure walked towards them. He was covered in black stripes and had a light red stomach. His piercing yellow eyes almost glared at Sandstorm. He was Sandstorm's older brother. "Why Sandstorm...why should we care about the plant-eaters?" He folded his arms. "You're beginning to sound like those weakling sharpteeth who lived in peace with the leaf-eaters that we've been told about."

"Those sharpteeth weren't weak, Gasher." The light tan raptor snarled. "And without leaf-eaters we would die! If we kill every leaf-eater we come across, what does that leave us to eat? Each other?"

"Man, that is gross!" A female sickleclaw grimaced. She lacked stripes as well and was just solid white. Her eyes were ice blue, just like Freeze's. She was given the name Snowbound. "Don't even go there!". "I don't wanna even thinking about doing this" agreed Sylvia.

Cote giggled. "Look, Snowbound and Sylvia are scared!" She was given the shock of her life when Snowbound and Sylvia large heads smacked against her face, and the large ice blue and turqouise blue eyes seemed to bore through her own.

"I'm not scared, you got that!" "Neither am I."Cote nodded. "Good." She rose her head up. Snowbound and was the strongest female in the pack, while Sylvia was know for being the most hardcore sickleclaw of Fortress Valley. In fact, they were the strongest ones in the group, period. Female sickleclaws were larger than the male sickleclaws and stronger, too.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jade asked Sandstorm.

"I can tell you what we can do..." Sandstorm said softly. "We leave the war."

"Leave the war...?" Jade looked shocked.

Sandstorm nodded. "We must..."


	28. The Deserter

Part III: The War

Suddenly, Red knocked Sandstorm onto the ground. He pulled back his lips, showing off his sharp teeth to him. "How dare you... we can't betray Chomper!"

Sandstorm picked himself back up. "I never said we were. I merely suggested we leave the war."

Red growled and turned his head. "That counts as betrayal!" He turned his head back at the Officer. "You used to be so special. But how special are you...if you are willing to turn your back on our own kind?"

The tan velociraptor glared back at Red. He then softened his expression, and closed his eyes. "I'm not... I just don't think this is right. I mean...look at all the suffering...back in the valley...All that... and for what?" He suddenly gripped Red by his shoulders and shook him violenty. "For what!"

The dark red raptor growled in disgust, and knocked away Sandstorm once again. "If you even think about leaving...I'll...I'll...KILL you!"

At this declaration of killing, the other sharpteeth in the group gasped in almost horror. Killing a leaf-eater was one thing, but killing one of their own, that just wasn't something they would see everyday. The young dilophosaurs cowered backwards. Gasher watched, almost emotionless, as Red opened his jaws and snapped close to Sandstorm's neck, an emphasis for the words he had spoken. Gasher could feel the smile on his face broaden. Snowbound merely shook her head.

Sandstorm grabbed the snout of Red and brought him close. He pressed his snout against Red's and said, "What do you hope to achieve from all this? What do you hope to gain from killing off leaf-eaters! All Chomper is doing is destroying life for a 'paradise' of sharpteeth!"

Red produced a sickening grin. "A worthy cause, I would say."

The tan raptor's eyes widened in horror. Red was just as disturbed as Chomper. He gripped Red harder. "How can you justify from destroying innocent lives! What kind of monster are you anyway!"

Red chuckled. "A smarter one than you." With that, he pulled his foot back and launched it forward. The sickle claw connected with Sandstorm's leg. Yelping in pain, Sandstorm let go, and felt the sickle claw of another sharptooth slice through muscle and tendons. When the claw was pulled out, Sandstorm now had a big puncture wound, flooding with blood. Not being able to stand the pain anymore, the Officer fell to his knees. His hands supported his aching body weakly, and he opened his mouth wide, taking in big gulps of air. His mind was being showered with extreme pain pulses. Red walked towards Sandstorm's wounded body, and grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him high off the ground.

"Now listen here, Officer Sandstorm, we were hired by Chomper to follow his every word. We were hired to help make this world better for sharpteeth everywhere! No longer will we be mocked! No longer will the leaf-eaters get the better of us! It'll be our world, Sandstorm. Our world!" He squeezed his neck tighter. "Either you are with us, or you are against us!" He clenched his teeth. "So choose...do you want to live...or die...?"

The Officer slowly opened his eyes, and stared at the dark red raptor with eyes full of hate and courage. "I will no longer follow Chomper on his insane quest of global conquer." His eyes slowly closed shut. "I am no longer part of his stupid war."

Red's widened eyes seemed to have a glint of fire inside them. "Then you die!"

* * *

Rex knelt beside the stream of water and cupped some water in his hands. He splashed it against his face, and he could feel the soothing coolness against his face and eyes. He shook himself dry, and droplets splashed everywhere.

"Watch it!" Littlefoot yelled, looking rather annoyed.

"Sorry, Littlefoot. But I want to enjoy this before we have to fight again. We've been fighting for such a long time..."

Littlefoot tilted an eyebrow. "It hasn't really been that long, Rex."

But he knew Rex was correct. It did feel like it was so long since this war had started. The valley was nothing like it used to be. Much of it was just littered with bodies. Littlefoot was so disguted by it that he hasn't had a bite to eat in such a long time. But he knew he had to keep his strength up. The next wave of attack could arrive at any time. He kept a close watch on the valley walls. And with sickleclaws on Chomper's side, there was no way of predicting just which direction they would appear.

Littlefoot looked up to the sky. The conversation he just recently had with Doc sort of disturbed him. It did excite him when he learned he was the reincarnation of Doc. But something was puzzling him. Doc had talked about the previous war that took place so long ago. It was so much like this one, in every way. And the death and bloodshed...he had already suffered a lot of that. However, one terrible thing stood out above all. He had seen this so many times inside his head and in daydreams he witnessed. It was almost like a vision. Something that Doc told him had made his blood freeze into ice.

As Littlefoot thought about the vision, he could see flashes inside his head. He could see sharp rocks, and a thunderstorm. The lightning was flashing everywhere. It was so close that the noise was almost unbearable. He could see rocks rolling down the hills, he could see the face of a cliff. Then he could see two dinosaurs fighting. Then the vision would become foggy and cloudy, and he couldn't see anymore. But what was worrying him was the two dinosaurs on the cliff. One of them was a longneck, and the other a sharptooth. It could have been him and Chomper.

He shuddered. He didn't want to think about fighting Chomper right now. He had seen enough bloodshed. He still needed to convince Chomper that he was wrong, that they didn't ruin his life. According to Doc, Slasher was another spirit stuck on this earth. Chomper said he died, but Slasher most likely didn't die, since he was already dead. But what actually happened no one could say for sure. But one thing was for sure. Chomper was decieved.

"You think we will be able to get close enough?" Rex asked, snapping Littlefoot out of his trance. He looked at his winged friend almost dumbly.

"Close enough to what?"

Rex giggled. "Why to Chomper of course!" He put his hand on Littlefoot. "Remember we have to talk to him?"

Littlefoot took a few moments to realize what Rex was talking about. Feeling rather stupid, he nodded his head. "Yes, I remember." He let out a sigh. "Sorry, I just probably need some rest." He then realized he didn't fully answer the question. "Oh, and yeah I think we will be able to, at least one of us."

Rex smiled slightly. "If Chomper realizes his mistake, he'll stop the war."

Littlefoot lowered his head. "But of course, it would be better if it had been sooner. I just hope nohing else of bad happen now. We have seen too much spilling of blood recently."

The winged omnivore faded away his small smile. He couldn't agree more. This whole thing was a nightmare. So many lives lost, both meat-eater and plant-eater. And not only dinosaurs were suffering. Some of the lower creatures, such as the mammals, were feeling the stress, and tried to flee their homes. But they ended up caught in the crossfire, and now lay scattered in the grass, hard to see save for the shine of blood. It was horrid! "Not even Bull would have done something like this."

Suddenly, Rex spotted something floating in the deep river. He could barely see the outline, but it was bipedal, he could at least tell. The head was underwater, and it looked like it was knocked out. Littlefoot had also spotted the thing floating in the water. He lowered his long neck to get a better look. But he couldn't really make out exactly what it was. It was covered in blood and deep cuts, and it was distorting the figure a little. He reached in with his tail and pulled the creature out. He settled it on the bank.

"What is it?" Littlefoot asked as Rex walked closer.

"It looks like a sickleclaw..." He whispered as he sniffed the body, believing the thing to be dead. "It looked as if it was attacked by its own kind."

"How do you know?"

"Not many leaf-eaters can make wounds like these." He pointed at the deep cuts that were so deep they could see the bone and muscle inside.

Suddenly the sickleclaw's eyes snapped open. Rex gasped as the sickleclaw weakly raised its hand up in the air. The look on its face was that of submission. "P-P-Please...help me..." He suddenly lost consciousness again.


	29. The Traitor and the Rebel

Part III: The War

Littlefoot and Rex stared at the prone raptor. It was bleeding from so many places it was hard to tell where the cuts actually where. It lay there, breathing with difficulty. They could hear ragged sounds, as though part of its windpipe was cut. Other than its breathing and a few tail twitches, the sickleclaw remained motionless. The raptor's last words before it fell down again stunned them. A velociraptor asking for their help? Raptors were one of the fiercest and most confident meat-eater of their time. What could possibly reduce one to this creature, lay bleeding on the grass?

"What should we do...?" Rex asked softly, his eyes filled with concern and disbelief. He placed his hand on the sickleclaw's neck, feeling for a pulse. He found one, but it was weak and thready.

Littlefoot didn't answer for a few minutes. He was watching the sharptooth, breathing in and out slowly, almost painfully. He wanted, at first, to kill it, just as its kind killed Hyp. But something about the raptor's condition, and its words, seemed to change his mind. If he killed the raptor out of vengeance, he'd be just as bad as Chomper. And he did not want to stoop down to his level.

Rex grew impatient, and walked towards the longneck. He waved his hand in front of Littlefoot, trying to get his attention. "Hello? Littlefoot? You there?"

Littlefoot snapped to his senses. "What? What?" He noticed the blue flyer. "Oh, Rex. What were you asking?"

"What should we do with him?" He pointed towards the small tan sharptooth. "We can't just leave him here."

"I know..." Littlefoot sighed. "We'll take him back to the cave. Perhaps he can tell us something about Chomper and his army that might help us." A thought suddenly crossed his mind. "I just hope he won't endanger my offspring."

"I'm sure he wo..." His voice trialed off. Rex's mind reeled back on Littlefoot's last two words: my offspring. His dark eyes widening in shock, he swerved towards Littlefoot and grabbed his head. "Your offspring!?"

"Yeah, well, Ali won't lay the egg in a few weeks, but..."

He was cut off by Rex screaming, "ALI!? EGG!?"

Littlefoot chuckled. He realized he hadn't told Rex about what happened in the cave. "Ali's pregnant, Rex." He gave a small smile.

"P-Pregnant...?" All the thoughts that were racing through Rex's mind would haunt him for the rest of his life. He shouldn't be that surprised. After all, he thought they'd make a cute couple. But he wasn't expecting them to take the 'step' this fast, and during a war too! "Littlefoot...you don't meant to tell me that..in the cave...you...and Ali..." He nervously fumbled his fingers together.

"Yes. Why do you sound like that's a bad thing?" He was beginning to sound a little angry.

"Littlefoot, did you forget that we're in a war here? What if something bad happens to Ali?" Rex answered, voice filled with worry and concern. "I don't mean to sound like a downer. I'm just worried about what would happen to the child, and Ali, if they get caught in the war."

Littlefoot nodded, understanding where Rex was coming from. Littlefoot, too, was concerned about what would happen. That's why he came up with a plan, which was similar to the decision Bron had to make so many years ago. "I told Ali that it might be safer for her and the child if she left the Great Valley. If she does, then at least she and the child have a chance of survival. I know if she stays here, the sharpteeth might get her."

"Then why did you chance it? Why did you..." Rex stopped himself. "Oh nevermind. We have to get this sharptooth back for interrogation." He bent down and gently picked up the bleeding sharptooth. Years of training and meditation kept him from going crazy at the sight of blood. He was grateful for it too. It still haunts him how he killed Zill after he saw his blood.

As they walked back towards the cave, a set of eyes glared at them, almost hungrily...

* * *

Sandstorm muttered in his sleep. He tossed back and forth against the earth, against hard cold rock. A few tears streamed out of his eyes. "No...no..." Suddenly he bolted up, letting out a shriek that echoed. "Echo...?" As he regained his bearings, he looked around and realized he was in a cave of some sort. He struggled to get onto his legs, but found himself falling over once more. His legs were badly damaged. "Nuts..." He hissed under his breath.

"So your finally awake?" A winged dino approached him, blood on its claws and mouth.

Sandstorm looked scared. "Who-Who are you?" He stared in horror at the blood on its claws.

"What? A sharptooth afraid of the sight of blood?" Rex joked halfheartedly. "I'm Rex. Relax there, sickleclaw, I was just bringing you some food." He tossed a tiny mammal he had caught earlier. "I thought you might be hungry."

The tan raptor picked up the meal and sniffed it. "Thanks..." He whispered and, in a single gulp, devoured the mammal whole. He coughed, as he was not used to eating something with fur. He punched himself in the chest a few times, trying to push the mammal down his esophogas and into his stomach.

Suddenly Rex asked out of nowhere, "What happened to you?"

This brought Sandstorm out of his little trance, and stared at the winged dino with surprise. "You want to do...what happened to me?" Rex nodded. "Don't you know?" Rex shook his head.

"I may be a sharptooth, but I was raised by plant-eaters for the beginnings of my life." He closed his eyes. "So I'm what you call an omnivore. Plant eater and meat eater rolled into one." He turned to Sandstorm. "You understand?"

"Not really." Sandstorm's mind was boggled just trying to make sense of what Rex was telling him. "But it is not important right now." He winced as he saw his blood on the floor. "Well you want to know what happened to me?" Not bothering to let Rex answer his question, he continued, "I was kicked out."

Rex's eyes bulged out when he heard those words. "You were kicked out? Why?"

"They thought I was betraying Chomper." He pulled back his lips, sharp teeth glinting slightly. "I only wanted to leave the war. Chomper is going too far!"

The flying dinosaur gave a single nod of the head. "Yes, we all believe that." He couldn't agree more.

"This war has to stop..." Sandstorm muttered softly. "Too much bloodshed, even for a sharptooth like myself..."

"So I see he's awake." Littlefoot said as he entered he cave. He was a bit tense since the sharptooth was awake now, but he relaxed when he remembered that the sharptooth's leg was badly damaged and it was doubtful he could stand up.

The sickleclaw seemed a bit confused when the longneck entered, not showing too much fear in his presence. Most longnecks would either attack him or run away. Littlefoot was doing neither. "And who are you?" That was the only thing he could say.

"I'm Littlefoot, but we have a few questions to ask you..uhh...what's your name?" Littlefoot grinned sheepishly, slightly embarrassed for some reason he could not figure out.

"I'm Officer Sandstorm, but just call me Sandstorm. Officer is just a title, a ranking Chomper gave me." Littlefoot seemed confused, but said nothing. "Littlefoot eh? So you must be the guy Chomper has been talking about." He said, chuckling with a mixture of humor and pity. "He keeps mentioning you, ya know?"

"H-He has...?" The young longneck wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but curiousity compelled him to ask. "What...does he say?"

"Oh, how he was going to rip out your throat, rip out your intestines, spread them all over the earth, coat himself in your blood..." He stopped when he realized Littlefoot's face was turning green, and he was wobbling a little, feeling sick to his stomach. "Sorry." He smiled slightly.

"That...was so wrong..." Rex said, horrified.

"I'm gonna be sick..." Poor Littlefoot was plagued with horrible images of what Sandstorm had just told him.

* * *

"You sure this is the place, Ichy?" Outside the cave, a few feet away, Dil and Ichy were walking towards the cave. They were following Petrie's trail. Ichy wanted to actually fight the pterosaur. It wasn't much of a fight last time. "And if it is, isn't it dangerous to be coming here without asking General Chomper first?"

She was greeted with a punch to the nose. "What are you complaining about? And yes this is the place." His feathers ruffled in anticipation. "And who said anything about going in? We're just here to keep an eye on them until the boss arrives." He rubbed his wings together, licking his beak. "I can almost taste him..." He said to no one in particular.

"Who you talkin to?" Dil asked.

"No one." Ichy said, his yellow eyes still boaring into the cave entrance. "I wonder how long they'll stay in there."

"I don't know." A voice suddenly sounded out. "But you won't be around long enough to see."

Ichy and Dil turned around to face the intruder. "Who is it? Who's there?" Dil questioned with worry, looking left to right. She was trying to figure out the source of the voice. She was about to rush forward when Ichy pushed one of his wings into her snouth.

"Hold on Dil, let me handle this guy." He jumped up and flew towards the intruder. It was the same black flyer that attacked Petrie. "Just who do you think you are!" Ichy was never really good with first impressions, and it showed.

"My name is Gorjak, and I have a bone to pick with a certain flyer in there." The dark flyer took flight and landed in-between Dil and Ichy. Ichy turned around.

"Now see here, that flyer is mine!" He pointed towards himself. "You have no right to come here and try to steal my meal!"

Gorjak's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't test me..." He growled under his breath, speading his wings out and flexing the sharp claws that stuck out about midway. Ichy gulped a little, but responded by making three deep cuts into the earth with his talons.

Ichy suddenly remembered something. "Gorjak...so you're the one Loc mentioned before we left..! What are you doing here, anyway? I thought Chomper didn't want you to come along."

Dil blinked in confusion. "He didn't? Why not?"

"Because Gorjak follows his own rules..." Ichy said with disgust. "He refuses to follow orders. So I shouldn't actually be all that surprised he's here." He hopped closer to Gorjak and pressed his head against his. "Why don't you scram, pal, before we report you to one of the Officers?"

Suddenly he was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air. Ichy gasped for air and struggled to get free, but the grip was too strong for him. "Do you really wanna mess with me, birdie?"

"Ichy!" Dil rushed forward blindly and snapped forward. Seeing her attack, Gorjak let Ichy go and flew up, barely missing the jaws by a centimeter.

Gorjak seemed to grow weary from being in their presence. While he wasn't physically worn out, he was mentally. Gorjak believed he had more important things to do than hang around two of Chompers loyal followers. "Ah, I am tired of seeing you anyway." He was about to fly away, when he decided on something better. He looked at Ichy with some sort of interest, his eyes almost hungrily fixated on him.

"What are you staring at!" The angry white and gray bird, apparently recovered from the attack, hopped onto Dil's snout.

"Why don't we have a little battle...?" He laughed. "And let us make the stakes high. Whoever loses...gets eaten..."

* * *

Far from there, in a place full of great rocks, five figures were standing on the rocks, all looking sad. The first was a rainbow face with bright-pink eyes, she was wearing a bracelet in her right arm, in it the symbol of the treestar with the sharp tooth carved. She sat comfortably in one great rock, in her face a sad look.

Next to her, sitting in the same rock, there was a sea-blue sickleclaw. She had emerald-green eyes that were turned to the ground and had a very sorrowful look. She had a necklace with a pingent with the same symbol.

In a rock next to them there was three another figures. One was laying in her back, was a dark-green egg stealer with bronze colored eyes. She had a belt with the same symbol in the front, and was now staring at the sky.

Next to her, laying on her own chest, a pink colored yellow belly with jade-green eyes and an extremely sad look. In her left hand you could spot a ring with the same symbol of the others.

The last figure, the bigger of them all, was a dark-pink bigmouth with turquoise-blue eyes. She was wearing a necklace with the famous symbol. She looked the saddest of the group. She sighed, and quickly received a look from the rainbow face.

"Layla" the bigmouth turned to the rainbow face when she heard she spook her name. "I know that you're in a hard time now, but you sold really eat something, it has been almost two days."

The dark pink swimmer was able to do a weak, sad smile to her friend. "Thanks Denise, but I doubt I could swallow anything now." The rainbow face could only nod in acknowledge, and they resumed the silence. That's when the egg stealer stood.

"That's it! I don't care what Zeiran, the council or even the spirits think about it, I'm going to do something!"She received stares from her friends, the sickleclaw then asked "So what Ginna? You can't fight on your own, even with your abilitie, and you know what may happen if we act now."

"So is that, Heater?" she said turning to the sickleclaw. "We will only stay here crossed arms? I'm tired of this, that's not why I wanted to join the order. What do you say Lena." She said turning to the yellow belly, who in turn was surprised for be Ginna who was asking her something. She choose her next words rather carefully. "Well, I agree that is bad we keep here without doing nothing."

"See?"

"But" Lena continued "Heater may be right about the things now. What do you think Denise?"

All eyes turned to the rainbow face, the most mature and centred of the group, it's no official leader, she could only sigh and say "I understand fully about how you fell Ginna. But we must stay calm and wait for the right moment."

"The right moment is now." Ginna interrupted "If we prolongue this even more then will be too late."

"This decision is not up to us." the rainbow face talked with a voice that said that the talk was over. The the silence once again stablished all the girls with sadness in her eyes. Ginna said "So, we can't do nothing?" there was more silence before Layla spoke.

"There is something we can do." all eyes turned to her "We can pray." at this coment Ginna rooled her eyes "Again with this talk Layla. We all in the order have prayed for to long, and seens like no one can hear, and if they can they don't give a dawn."

The swimmer only stared back at the egg stealer and said "I learned that if you have real faith things can get better. I'll pray for the spirits girls, with all my heart, and it would be nice if you joined me." In this moment she put her hands together and closed her eyes, satting there, praying silently. The other females whatched her for some moments, then, one by one, they joined her, the egg stealer was the last. She never really believed in things like praying and miracles, and now, she had even less reasons to believe.


	30. Innocense Behind The Mask

Part III: The War

"Spike? Spike where are you!" Ducky cried out as she patrolled the aftermath of the invasion. She grimaced as she stepped on a tiny dead body. She shuddered, and continued walking along. The Great Valley has been turned into a terrible nightmare of bloodshed and gore! She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and called out again, "Spike!"

But all she could hear was the terrible wind howling as it pushed against her face. With it came the horrible stench of rotting bodies that made her want to throw up. She coughed and gagged as the smell continued to fill her sensitive nostrils, and she finally started breathing through her mouth to avoid the horrid smell.

"Come on, Spike! Come on out!" She cupped her hands to her mouth this time to try and further strengthen the sound of her voice. But still, she could hear no reply. Ducky felt a sudden fear take root inside. She knew she wasn't strong enough to face big sharpteeth, and without Spike as her bodyguard, she was a sitting duck!

She inhaled deeply. "SPIKE FOR THE LAST TIME ANSWER ME!" She shouted as loud as she could, another vain attempt to at least get someone to answer her. But this time someone did hear. Someone did answer. But alas, it was not whom she wanted.

"Hello, Ducky. I can hear you just fine."

The dark voice sent a chill up her spine. "No...it can't be...not now...not here..." It should couldn't be him! She hasn't seen him at all in the valley. No one has. There's just no way it could be him. She closed her eyes tightly and slowly turned around, shaking like a leaf that's about to fall off a worn branch. "Please...no...no not him...please don't let it be him..." Ducky muttered as she slowly opened up her eyes. When they were fully opened, they stared at a set of sharp teeth.

She screamed. "You!"

"Yes, Ducky, me... Chomper."

The evil sharptooth grinned maliciously, showing to Ducky the stains of blood on his mouth. She grimaced and backed away. "But-But I thought you weren't here..."

A cruel laugh escaped Chomper's mouth. "Not here! Why my dear little Ducky..." He advanced forward. "I was always here..." He licked his teeth, smiling at the taste of blood. "I just made myself invisible to you and your friends..." He noticed Ducky's wide eyes as she stared at his teeth. "Oh, you wondering whose blood this is...? Well I'll tell you."

He leaned in forward and whispered into her ear. As the words snaked into her ears, cold hard terror nearly blanked her mind. The words echoed in her mind, paralyzing it with cold fear. She couldn't shiver. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She couldn't speak. All she could do is stand there, still as stone, face paling in horror as realization plagued her fragile mind.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ducky finally spoke in a shaky voice. "N-N-No...N-No...not him...No...no...no..." Tears welled up in her eyes. She choked back sobs. "I-It can't be true..."

"Oh, but it is, my dear." Chomper snorted. "And you're next..."

He lunged forward, mouth opened wide for the kill. Ducky didn't see him coming. She couldn't hear anything but those horrible words in her head, the words that Chomper had just spoken not too long ago. Chomper saw his advantage and took it. He was going to aim for her throat and rip it out. It would be a quick kill.

"No!" He screamed as he stopped dead in his tracks. This cry was enough to snap Ducky to her senses. Chomper clutched his head and closed his eyes tightly. "No, I'm not doing this anymore!" He howled, "Do you hear me! I'm not doing this any longer!"

Ducky watched in amazement. Chomper had suddenly stopped himself, and seemed to be arguing...with himself? She wanted to approach as curiousity settled in. But the other part of her wanted to keep away. The sharptooth could still attack her at anytime. "C-Chomper...?" She whispered softly as she watched the sharptooth on his knees, tears of fear coming out of his red eyes. "What are you doing?"

Chomper's eyes snapped open. He bared his teeth, and shouted through clenched teeth. "Go...now..."

"But...I..."

"GO! Before I change my mind..." Chomper growled almost evilly. Ducky stood there baffled. "NOW!" He roared, stomping his foot onto the ground, shaking it.

Ducky got the message and bolted away. Chomper was left alone, crouched on the floor, shaking. He did not look back. He did not look in the direction where Ducky had ran to. Instead he climbed to his feet and walked in the opposite direction.

Ducky ran through the woods, not daring to look back. She ignored the thorns she stepped in and the vines that tangled her. She didn't know where she was going. But she didn't care. She wanted to get away from there, as far away as she possibly could. Finally she stopped beside a large bare tree. She leaned against it, one hand on it, and breathed in deeply, trying to regain her stamina.

Chomper's behavior baffled her. One second he wants to rip out her throat. The next, he's letting her go, telling her to run away. Why had he done that? Ducky's mind was filled with mixed emotions. She hated Chomper for what he's doing. But she also pities him. It's almost as if this invasion wasn't his idea, or anything else he's done for that matter.

"Why...? Why did he do that...?" Grief as well as confused settled in her mind. "I'm so confused... yep yep yep..." She laid down next to the barren tree and curled up. Perhaps sleep would make her feel better. Completely forgetting of the danger she had just been in, she drifted off into sleep, leaving herself completely vulnerable to attack.

* * *

Doc, who had left the cave to look around the valley, felt something mentally strike him in his mind. He quickly looked in one direction, his eyes narrowed almost into slits. "So...I was right. Chomper is..." His voice trailed off. He shook his head, and turned around to walk back towards the cave. "I must tell Littlefoot and his pals about this."

* * *

At the same time, in a opening in the great wall, above where Chomper had let Ducky go, two figures were standing, both of the spechless. One of then were a sickleclaw, the one know as Salen, the other, the purple runner; Bari.

"Did you saw what I saw?" Salen asked his friend. "The great devil in sharptooth shape let one of his intended prey to escape? Yeah." Salen then turned to face him, locking in his gaze. "Do you know what this mean?"

"Chomper has finaly gone completely insane?" asked Bari stupidly, but Salen ignored it and said "Go back to our valley and tell the council about this now."

"About what? Comper finally losing his mind?" Bari asked.

"NOW!" roared Salen, at the same time the walls of the cave trembled and cracks appeared in them.

"Okay, okay. Don't make the celing fall on us." And with those last words Bari turned around, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Salen was left alone, and whatched as Chomper raised up and started walking. Many toughs gone trough his mind now. Thoughs that the council would have to concider this new information, but most of al: Thoughs that Chomper could not have wanted any of this, that maybe he was still an innocent.

That maybe, just maybe, there was still being hope for him.


	31. Beast Revealing

Part III: The War

The once proud and callous general lay on his knees, broken and sullen. Tears of confusion flowed from his eyes. He could not understand why he let her go. He could not understand why he couldn't harm her, why he suddenly stopped. His claws dug into the ground as frustration started to set in. He shouldn't be like this! He was a general! Generals are suppose to remain emotionless...and yet he wasn't, not anymore. Chomper could hear Ducky's fading footfalls. He was tempted to go after her, but an invisible force was preventing him. He reached out a claw in her direction, although she did not see it. She had already disappeared among the foliage.

"Why...why am I like this...?" Chomper's mind was plagued with so many thoughts and questions. And none of the questions he could seek an answer to. He had believed he became like his father, cold, blood-thirsty, savage. But in the face of trying to kill Ducky, he hesitated. Why? Why did he hesitate? He could kill Cera no problem. "But that was because I didn't like her..." It was true. Chomper had always hated Cera, hated her for the way she treated him.

It all made a little bit of sense now for the horned sharptooth. When he had tried to kill Petrie, he couldn't bring himself to. So instead he captured him and took him away. He had recently tried to kill Spike, but the look on Spike's face made him feel weak and he turned his attention to his most recent victim: Bron, Littlefoot's father.

Chomper had killed Bron in order to make Littlefoot suffer what he had gone through. He wanted to make him suffer through the loss of both parents. But now, now that feeling of sweet revenge doesn't seem to satisfy him anymore. It all but vanished, and yet the feeling of wanting revenge was still there. Chomper had no idea what was going on with him, but he was determined to find out. "I will find out... but first I must rally up my troops. I will have to find someone else to take my place...but who...?" As his mind entered deep thought, on the other part of the valley, a certain dracovol was flying towards a racing figure.

"Ducky...?" The dracovol flew down and landed just a few feet in front of the cave. He waited for the swimmer to run closer to him and catch her breath before he made any attempt to speak. "What are you doing here...?"

"I-I must tell Littlefoot...something...yep yep...yep..." Her eyes were drooped halfway down and her tongue hung out of her open beak. Her diaphram expanded and contracted several times a minute rapidly. "I found out something...important..."

Littlefoot walked out of the cave as he heard the sound of Ducky's voice. He was ecstatic to see her again. He thought she perished in the battle. "Ducky, I'm so glad to see y.."

"I know I know..." Ducky rudely interrupted. "But Littlefoot I got something to tell you." She looked around her, almost as if she didn't want the wrong people to hear it. This confused Littlefoot. Was it some terrible secret that, if in the wrong hands, would do harm? She walked close to Littlefoot and said in a soft voice, "Chomper is possessed."

But the whisper was, unfortunately for her, loud enough for nearly everyone around her to hear it. "Chomper is what!" She heard the unison shout and covered her ears to shield herself from the loud clamore.

"Yes yes yes, I know it sounds strange, but...the way he was acting...it was just so bizarre." Ducky could feel herself shuddering at the mere thought of the event that took place only an hr or two ago. "He was about to attack me...and he then let me go."

Littlefoot thought about this. This was the first time that Chomper had actually let one of his victims go, or so he thinks. While this behavior confused him, it almost made him happy. He knew the Chomper he once cared for was still in there, encouraging him even more that Chomper's former life as their sharptooth friend could be restored. "It could be a trap..." He finally said, thinking that if he got too happy about Chomper not being in his own control, it could backfire in the end.

Ducky shook her head furiously. "It is not a trap, no no no! I know what I saw." She was about to say something else, but sealed her mouth shut. She knew that if she revealed that Chomper had killed his father, Littlefoot would never consider the possibility of Chomper being possessed.

"Hey Ducky." Ali said softly as she stepped from the cave. She had heard the commotion and decided to come out. She was considering leaving the Great Valley so she could help take care of the kid she and Littlefoot were going to have. But she was debating whether or not she should leave. A pregnant dinosaur isn't much use in battle, since a blow to their stomachs could injure the eggs. And when the eggs are lain, they need constant protection and warmth, and they cannot be left alone that long. With the valley infested with sharpteeth and the occasional egg stealers, Ali may need to find a new place to store her eggs.

"Hi Ali." Ducky said almost dryly.

'Where is Spike?"

"I couldn't find him."

Ali said, "I'm...sorry about that."

Ducky shook her head. "No...no you don't have to be sorry. It's not even your fault anyway."

"So Ducky..." Littlefoot chimed in, drawing Ducky's attention to him. "If you think he's possessed, then who is possessing him, and why?"

"I sadly don't have the answer to that one, no no no." Ducky replied, sounding upset that she couldn't give a reason to the young longneck. "All I know is he wasn't acting like his usual 'psycho' self." Rex chuckled slightly at the 'psycho' comment, but when silent when a few glares came his way.

"What, a guy can't have fun?" He sheepishly asked, knowing very well he wouldn't get much of a good answer out of any one of them. After a long moment of silence, he let out a weak laugh, and then his face changed to that of shame. "Sorry."

Littlefoot slowly shook his head and turned his attention back towards the young swimmer. "How was he not acting like himself?"

"Well he was about to attack me, but stopped, and...and he just started screaming into the sky." Ducky recalled the entire event in her brain. "He said how he wasn't going to do this anymore."

Suddenly a strange and yet familiar voice sounded out behind them. The voice startled the young group and they jumped in shock. "I was correct. My suspicions were correct, sadly but truly."

Littlefoot exclaimed, "Doc!"

Doc replied, "Yes. I was right about the situation then. Ducky confirmed it." He looked in her direction.

"What did she confirm?" Ali asked cautiously.

"Chomper was possessed this whole time." He closed his eyes and sighed sadly. "That explains a lot, if you think about it. But it also means something else. It also means that magic is in the air." He knew it sounded corny, and he somehow wished he worded it better.

"Magic...?" Rex blinked. "But I thought magic wasn't real..."

Doc lifted his head up high. "It's real all right, young man. How do you think I, a dead dinosaur, am still standing here, solid and in the flesh?" Rex tried to find an answer, but he remained silent as stone.

Sandstorm stepped up.

"Doc is right." He said softly. "You all must remember, magic may seem wonderous, but it can actually be quite deadly..if used in the wrong hands."

* * *

Outside the cave, Ichy and Gorjak clashed, high up in the skies. Their talons locked with each other. And then they started to spin around as they dove straight down. The ground grew larger and larger as they plummeted faster and faster. Soon the environment seemed to disappear into a blur of confusion and nothingness as their eyes and brain could no longer cope and they went blind.

"We are approaching the ground fast, little one." Gorjak sneared, showing no emotion whatsoever. "If you want to let go, if you want to live, I understand."

"What and risk you ruining the mission? I don't think so, pal!" Ichy fearlessly hung on, knowing well that if neither of them let go, they could risk killing each other. But the toothed bird would rather risk death than allow the rebel escape and do who knows what.

Dil wished with all her might that she could see what was going on. But in her eyes, the world was nothing but a blur. She couldn't make out the spinning figures in the air, let alone tell them apart. She could only faintly hear them scream at each other as they plummeted towards the earth. She felt compelled to spring forward to try to stop them. But she realized that she couldn't. How could one stop something they could not see?

"Ichy...be careful." She seemed almost horrified by what she said. Was she actually worried about the bird? He never treated her all that well, forcing her into all the hard work and complaining his job was just as hard. But she also knew she couldn't hunt without him. She was caught in a stone and hard place. She couldn't live with him, with his constant bossing around and pushing her around, but she couldn't live without him, for without his guidance, she couldn't catch the slowest of prey.

"Just what are you doing here?" Dil shuddered at the sound of the voice. She knew it wasn't Chomper, but the voice was just as threatening. She turned around to face the source of the voice, but the only thing she saw as a blur that was faintly purple.

Gasher snarled. "Answer me!"

"Why do you want to know?" Dil snapped back, revealing her sharp teeth.

"I don't recall General Chomper telling you and your bird...hey where is that bird brain of yours?" Gasher walked around in a circle, and stopped on the other side of Dil, looking left to right. "You're never without him."

Since Dil couldn't see, all she could do was point up and say, "He and Gorjak are up there, fighting."

"Wha...?" The purple raptor looked upwards to try and find the flyers. At first all he saw was a small dot. But it quickly grew larger and he recognized the two figures. It was the rebellious Gorjak and the bird, Ichy! He turned his head to Dil. "Why are they fighting?"

Dil rolled her eyes in annoyance. "If you must know, they made a little bet. Whoever won got a meal and whoever one got a..." She winced as Ichy and Gorjak made their crash landing...right on top of Gasher. "...meal..."

"Get of..." Gasher grumbled, pushing the bird and flyer off of his back.

"B-Best two of th-three..." Ichy muttered before falling onto the hard ground.

* * *

When nightfall came onto the valley once again, Rex had left the cave and travelled a few miles away. He just had to get away from it all. He'd seen enough already and the concept of magic was still nagging at his brain. Rex found it hard to believe that any individual dinosaur could harness incredible power. He decided to rest his mind. He walked over to the river, and began drinking.

"I just need to stop thinking so much."

As he raised his head to shake it dry, he opened his eyes and looked at his reflection. He gasped and stepped back. As he stared into the water, he could not see his own reflection. But instead, he was looking at the body of a sharptooth. It looked nothing like the kind that Chomper's 'adopted' parents were, a tyrannosaurus. It looked...different from any sharptooth he's seen personally. The snout of the sharptooth was long like a bellydragger's, lined with pointed teeth. It didn't walk almost upright, like Chomper did, but instead it walked with its body straight forward, like a pachy when it's charging at an enemy. Its long tail balanced its massive body, and its feet and hands were armed with claws.

Rex blinked. One feature stood out more than even the croc-like snout. On the hands were large sickle claws, like the raptors had. The sharp claw curved forward, well in front of the other digits. The vicious hooks looked much sharper than a raptor's own sickle claw, and it could possibly slice through flesh, not just puncture it. The sharptooth's body was a mild green with a pale yellow belly.

He blinked again, but this time, the image shifted. Then a new animal appeared. Rex backed away in almost sheer horror. The terrifying creature that now was in the water reflection as a gigantic long necked reptile with huge wings like that of a flyer, but with sharp hooks. Huge spines rose from its back and snaked along to the tip of its tail. The tail was sharply pointed and hard. It had muscular legs, the back ones curving like the modern day dog's. Horns jetted out on the face of the creature and huge sharp teeth curved out of its top jaw. Something that looked like fire steamed out of its nose.

"What...what is that...?" Rex shuddered, backing away from the terrible reflection. Little did he know that something was looking in his direction. In the trees nearby, a set of red eyes belonging to General Chomper, were shifting their intense gaze at the flying sharptooth.

"My search...is over." He spoke in a voice that was not his own.

* * *

At his same moment, far from there, Zera opened her eyes. "No." she sad to herself "It can't be. Rex is... I have to tell someone about this." and then she ran of.


	32. Scheme

Part IV: The Betrayal

After the odd experience, Rex ran back to the cave to consult Sandstorm. He told the old veteran everything about what happened at the river. He described how the image shifted twice, first revealing a sailback, and then some unknown creature he's never seen. As he explained all of this, Sandstorm stood silent, almost emotionless. A few times he blinked in confusion. The concept of something like this he's never encountered before, but he's heard a few rumors from a pack of adult ridgeheads. Sandstorm wasn't sure to believe what they had said, or accept it as fact. There was no proof before of reincarnation, or the restarting of a life, and there still wasn't proof today.

Rex finally finished his story, panting a little. He still seemed scared from when he saw the reflection of the unknown creature. He was hoping Sandstorm might have an answer to what it was. Unfortunately, he did not. Sandstorm sadly shook his head.

"I'm sorry Rex, I never heard of such a creature before." His eyelids closed slowly. "Only things I can tell ya is that either you dreamt it up or you could try talking with Doc."

The dracovol snarled slightly. "I am not making this up!"

Sandstorm once again showed no signs of emotion. "Calm down. I didn't say you were."

Rex was about to say something, but he couldn't think of anything to say. Sandstorm couldn't provide any answers for him, apparently. He'd have to go to someone else. He wasn't so willing to speak with Doc. The dead-but-alive dinosaur creeped him out. He just couldn't register the fact that Doc was dead, and yet he was still moving, still breathing like the rest of them. Just something about him didn't feel right. He'd rather go to someone else, someone who was quite familiar with this magic stuff.

Rex turned around, putting his back to Sandstorm. "I'm going for a walk." He declared, folding his wings close to his back.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Sandstorm chirped. "What you saw may have been a prediction-"

"But I thought you said... Prediction...?" The dracovol's dark eyes widened at the very word. "Prediction?"

The sickleclaw noddled almost furiously. "It may be warning you of some ominous future for you. But I cannot be certain." He took a step closer. "Do you remember any other details about the creature? Anything you may have left out?"

Rex turned around and stared into Sandstorm's eyes. "Anything...I left out...? Let me think about it." He scratched his chin with his sharp claws as he thought about it. Suddenly a memory came back into his brain. "Oh yeah! The unknown creature looked as though it was breathing fire..."

No sooner had he said this that Sandstorm's pupils contracted into slits and color seemed to pale from his face. "I thought they were only a myth..."

"What was only a myth?"

"Y-You're reflection...was that of a...a..." Sandstorm seemed totally frightened now, stuttering like a little hatchling.

"Of a what?" Rex asked impatiently.

"A flamebreath..." Sandstorm mouthed the word silently.

Rex tilted his head to the side. "A flamebreath...? Never heard of those."

"You're lucky... When I was young my mother told me about them. She says they're quite nasty. They're large beasts to prowl the land, sea, and sky. Their ability to breathe fire makes them almost invulnerable. Their scales act like armor, impossible to penetrate with even the sharpest of claws. Their tails are like that of a clubtail, but even stronger." Sandstorm whimpered. "If you saw that in your reflection, and if that reflection was a prediction, then it means..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"But what if it was...me...a past life..?" Rex asked carefully.

Sandstorm's eyes leveled with Rex's eyes. "A past life...? What makes you think it was a...past life?" He asked just as cautiously.

"You see...there was something else I saw in the reflection." He gulped. "A third shift."

"What was it?"

"It looked like me...my adult self... I looked...so creepy...so evil... I...I don't wanna talk about it..." He could feel tears in his eyes. He looked at his hands, shaking. "I had blood in my claws...blood...from a friend..." Sandstorm couldn't figure out what to say. All he could do was watch as Rex trembled, staring at his white claws with shame, confusion, and anger.

Chomper shook his head furiously as he remembered how he was about to capture Rex, but the dracovol flew away before he could do anything. He snarled furiously. "I was close...I was so close..." The voice was once again not his own.

The horned sharptooth strolled along the forest, using his nose to try and catch Rex's scent. The possessed Chomper had seen the reflection, and he knew very well that it was a flamebreath. If he had a flamebreath, even a reincarnation of one, he could be unstoppable! Rex may even possess some of the dragon's powers, like the ability to breath flames without scorching their own mouths. If Rex at least had that ability, the weight of the war would dramatically be shifted in his favor. He smiled almost demonically as he thought of the victorous sharpteeth ruling the Great Valley.

"I must lure Rex onto my side..." Chomper hissed determinedly. "He must come to me."

"Any sign of him, sir?" Loc approached Chomper slowly. "I thought he..."

The blue sharptooth swerved around and stared at him straight in the eye. "I thought I told you to look for Gorjak! I've been told by one of the soldiers that he had come here."

"I-I was sir." Loc stuttered, afraid of the larger dinosaur in front of him. "But I saw you standing here and I thought..."

"Enough excuses!" Chomper snapped, pointing away. "Just keep searching for him!"

Without a word, the red horned sharptooth bolted away into the jungle. Chomper watched him leave, and turned his attention elsewhere. Loc was sometimes a pain, but that is to be expected from a preteenaged dinosaur. He shifted his thoughts back onto Rex. There must be someway to get Rex to come to him. There just had to be something he could do to convince Rex to leave the leaf-eaters' side to join the carnivore's side.

A thought crossed his mind. He had been told by Blueye and Claw that, in the past, they discovered that some of the plant-eaters in the Feeding Area would sacrifice themselves to save someone that they loved. And there were others who would boldy defend someone..for love. Love seemed to strongly bond two dinosaurs together, and they would loyally defend each other.

It seemed like a shrewd idea, an almost disgusting one. But he may be able to win Rex over, and if he could get him on his side, then he could bring forth more sharpteeth, and completely overwhelm the plant-eaters! Victory would be his!

"I'll find him...and I'll make him mine... Littlefoot, your days are numbered." The dark demonic voice growled as Chomper traveled on further, still looking for the dragon reincarnation.


	33. Spy in the Midst

Part IV: The Betrayal

"But how should I go about it...?" Chomper thought to himself. He needed some way to lure Rex away from the group. He couldn't just waltz up there. He would have to get Rex alone, but how to do that at a distance? Rex was a flyer, so he would go faster, and thus be seperated from the group easily if he just kept on flying. But knowing the dracovol, he probably slows down to wait for the others to catch up. And Chomper was smart enough to know also that the plant-eaters wouldn't stray too far from their hideout, so the horned sharptooth couldn't just sit here and wait. Unless Rex gets bold and goes much further out, it was doubtful he'd bump into him.

Chomper growled in frustration. He could almost feel his veins burst as he tried in vain to come up with a plan. Usually he's really good at plotting, but in this case, there didn't seem to be many logical options to choose. He leaned against hard rock, his eyes closed tightly. He impatiently scratched the floor with his foot. Three large indentations could now be seen in the soil. "Ugh..." The carnotaur looked up at the sky, eyes now open but narrowed. He bared his teeth. "It can't be this hard to come up with a plan like this!"

"Might I make a suggestion, sir?" A cool feminine voice questioned from beside Chomper.

Chomper swerved around to see Blueye standing there. Chomper sighed with relief, realizing it was just a sickleclaw. "You have a plan?" The pale yellow sickleclaw nodded, smiling slightly. "Okay. Shoot."

Blueye paced slowly, her head remaining looking in his direction, rarely looking away. "If you want Rex to come to you, why not use one of his friends as bait?" Chomper cocked an eyebrow, interested. "All you'd have to do is capture someone Rex knows and cares about, and lead him to you." Smiling, she said, "You can make him yours then. If he doesn't comply, you could kill off his pal."

For a while, Chomper just stood there, silent. His face was a mask devoid of all emotion, save for a slightly raised eyebrow. Blueye started to feel nervous. Whenever Chomper was like this, usually meant he didn't like the idea. And she knew what sometimes happens when Chomper didn't like something. Shaking, the small sharptooth backed away, cowering in the shadow of the horned sharptooth. All was silent except for the sound of breaking from the two animals. Chomper's red eyes glinted in the light.

After many minutes, Chomper started to speak slowly, voice dark. "You want me...to try and find someone he knows, and use them as bait?" The raptor gulped, and didn't respond. After several more minutes passed in eerie silence, sound of the trees' leaves russling easily heard from miles away. Suddenly Chomper smiled crookedly. "I love it! I love it!"

The pale yellow raptor, almost too stunned to move, let out a huge sight of relief. She wiped her forehead. "That was close..." She whispered.

Chomper lowered his gaze towards her face. "But..do you know where I could find one of his pals? It'd be too much of a hassle to try and capture the ones at the hideout."

Blueye answered, "Well Claw and I did discover another traitor in the sickleclaw pack." She said dutifully. "Well not really a traitor. Turns out he was spying on us, but before he could make his first trip to the plant-eaters, Red and Snowbound apprehended him. They brought him to the Prisoner's Corner, back in Fortress Valley. But one of our flyer scouts spotted him entering the valley. We don't know where he is exactly, but he's here...somewhere."

Chomper blinked. "So, you're telling me there was a spy in our group?" After recieving a nod from Blueye, he shook his head. "Why can't all sharpteeth understand what I'm trying to do?" He let out a sigh. He wasn' expecting an answer. "Who was he? And why didn't anyone tell me about this?" His eyes flashed with anger.

She cringed as she stared at his eyes. "We didn't tell because...because..." She struggled to come up with a good reason why no one's mentioned the spy before. "Well...you see...we thought...well we were going to...I mean...I-I..." Her mind just wasn't working for her at this particular moment.

He growled under his breath. "Fine, you don't have to tell me why. Just tell me who the spy was."

(A/N Yes, I did get permission from Sora W.T.K to use Yu.)

"His name is Yu." Blueye answered softly. Chomper's eyes widened at the mention of the name. "In appearance, he's a..."

She was cut off abruptly. "He's a sickleclaw, green with blue stripes, with blue-green eyes."

"Y-You know him?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes...Yes I know him..." He closed his eyes as memories flooded back to him. "I met Yu when I was younger. We were best pals but...that was a long time ago." His eyes snapped open, full of determination and fury. "Things are different now!"

"So how do you want us to go about in capturing the spy?"

The blue sharptooth looked down at the raptor. "Send out a couple of the strongest raptors to apprehend him. Send out even 10 or 20 if you must!"

Blueye saluted her boss. "As you wish, sir!" With that, she took off to find her fellow sickleclaws and handpick the strongest and fastest ones. Chomper watched her leave, and he turned around and walked away. He was unaware that he was being watched by a small figure, perched high up in the trees, body shielded by the large treestars.

The past few days had been confusing for Petrie. He hadn't seen Littlefoot or the others for a while. He had taken off to fly around, and he had been attacked by a dark flyer. He couldn't remember much of what happened, but he had been hopelessly lost since then. He had inadvertantly hid himself in a tree that was very close to where some of Chomper's troops had been hiding. He barely managed to fly away in time before the troops spotted him.

He had found this tree, and thought it would be better. But with Chomper so close by today, he was frozen in terror. He was grateful that Chomper didn't see him up in the treetops. He had caught bits and pieces of the conversation. He was too high up to hear every word, but he understood enough. Upon hearing the names Yu and Rex, and the word capture, Petrie was able to piece together inside his mind what Chomper was planning to do. And he wasn't about to let that happen! He'd have to find Yu first himself.

Petrie said, "Me must find Yu! Me must!" Gathering up all his courage, Petrie jumped off the branch and started soaring through the sky. His huge eyes scanned the ground for any raptor-like form. It wasn't long before he spotted something and he banked in that direction to get a closer look.

* * *

Down further where Petrie was going, a young velociraptor was roaming about. His back was hunched and he was sleeking along the side of the wall. He was sticking to the shadows as much as he could and his green body was distorted by the green foliage he was walking through. The only thing that stood out was his blue stripes. Yu heard something, and he pressed his back against the stone wall, his blue-green eyes, wide, scanning for any sign of enemy raptors. He couldn't see any, and he moved on ahead, but still cautious about his surroundings.

Yu sniffed the air. When he caught a whiff of something, he moved in that direction. He was trying to track down Littlefoot and Rex. No matter how long it's been since they've seen each other, Yu would never forget their scent. The green sickleclaw had learned a lot about Chomper's schemes and he was planning on sharing his information with Littlefoot. But first, he'd have to find Littlefoot. The Great Valley was huge, and Yu had no idea where the plant-eaters were hiding.

"This is like finding a bone in a giant dirt pile." He muttered almost bitterly to himself. He took another sniff of the air, and growled in frustration when he could no longer pick up the scent. It was too well mangled in with the scent of rotting flesh, other plant-eaters, and many sharpteeth who had passed by this place before. "How will I ever find them!"

Almost as if on cue, something knocked him on the pack of the head. He let out a scream of pain and turned around, teeth bared for the attacker. But when he didn't see anyone, he felt confused. Then he heard someone speaking. "Yu! Yu! Yu!"

"Who's there?" He asked, voice still stern with caution.

"Yu! It me! Petrie!"

"Petrie?" Yu spotted the flyer. "Petrie it is you! My how you've grown.." He commented, admiring Petrie's wingspan in envy.

"No time for standing around! You must hide!" Petrie shouted in panic.

The green sickleclaw titled his head to one side. "Why?"

"Chomper! He plans to capture you!"

"Why?" Yu asked, though it was clear he was already scared.

"To get to Rex!" Petrie answered loudly.


	34. Hide and Go Seek

Part IV: The Betrayal

"Rex..." Yu closed his eyes and memories flooded back to him. It had been so long since he seen Rex, or heard his name. It was almost like it was from some distance dream he had long forgot about. "It's been so long since I've seen him...Why would Chomper want him?"

Petrie lowered his head. "Me no know for sure. But me thinks he want to turn Rex against us all!"

Yu lashed his tail from side to side. "Chomper has way too many dinosaurs. We can't let him get another!" But while Yu sounded confident, deep down he was terrified. He know bore three scars on his body, all of them he got from Red. Red...he shuddered as he thought of the name. Thanks to his struggle with Red, Yu now had a scar on his snout, a scar on his neck, and a scar on his side. And they were all still painful and swollen. He gingerly touched the scar on his snout, and instantly recoiled in pain. Petrie noticed this, and peered at the wound.

"That one wicked cut..." He said softly, looking at Yu with pity.

"Tell me about it..." Yu said sorely. "It's been about a week since I got it, and it still hurts like nothing else!"

Petrie nodded sympathetically, but then remembered what he had originally come to do. "We go, now!" He said almost demandingly. "If sharpteeth find us, we doomed!" He was flapping his wings frantically, feeling his heart racing just by thinking of what would happen if they were ambushed by the sharpteeth that Chomper had sent out to look for Yu the raptor. He cautiously turned his head to look behind him, and was thankful there was no one there.

"But where will we go?" Yu asked sullenly. "We have no idea where they would be coming from. What if we walk right into a trap?"

Petrie glared at him. "You not quitting, are you?"

Yu looked up into the night sky. "I'm just trying to be realistic, Petrie." He let out a long sigh. "You have no idea what I've been through, when I infliltrated and joined their ranks. I've seen things, Petrie. I've seen what they do, how they lived. There are things that they know." He started trembling. "I know what they are capable of, Petrie. You have no idea what they can do..." He slowly turned his head away. "You don't know what it's like...unless you've been there."

Petrie's expression softened almost all the way. The hint of a frown still remained. "But they here now. If you know so much about them, why no give us a hint in how to beat them?"

Yu gritted his teeth. "That's just it! I-I-I don't know how, exactly. That's why I wanted to talk to Littlefoot. I was hoping he would be able to help me devise a way to stop this madness."

"Ppphmmf! Littlefoot! Why you need him for?" Petrie spat. He was about to say something, but one cold stare from Yu made him shut up.

"What is the matter with you?" Yu growled.

Petrie looked away and at first said nothing. Giving Yu a backward glance, he said, "Littlefoot cause this."

Yu blinked in shock. "I have my doubts about that, Petrie. I wouldn't put the blame all on him."

"Why not?"

"Because Littlefoot is still your friend. Do you think he meant for this to happen?" Before Petrie could answer, Yu answered for him. "No. He didn't."

"Look, me already had talk like this earlier." Petrie said, trying his hardest not to show his anger. "Let just leave and me take you where me last saw Littlefoot..."

Yu smiled a little. "All right, let's go."

But before they could go anywhere, they could almost feel shadows being cast down on them. They heard the rumbling of rocks and snapping of twigs. They could hear footsteps that seem to come from all sides. They turned left and right, trying to find the exact source of the sounds. Petrie, whimpering, flew up into a tree to hide. Yu, frantic, dove behind a rock and curled up into a ball to try and conceal his entire body being it.

The sounds grew louder, and closer. Yu could almost feel the vibrations under the weight of his body as the footsteps drew closer and closer. He could feel the fear rising in his heart. It must be Chomper's troops, most likely looking for him. Petrie may not have told him about how many Chomper sent, but Yu has been with Chomper's pack long enough to expect those kinds of things.

Up in the tree, Petrie had flew onto the highest branch, and snuggled as far against the trunk as he could. He peered through the thick leaves to find where Yu was. He sighed with relief when he spotted him behind the rock. Petrie then turned his attention to where the shadows were coming from. He could tell, from where he was, they were sharptooth shadows. He narrowed his eyes as he strained to see how many there were. The shadows had merged and it looked like there was just one shadow, one creature. But Petrie and Yu both knew better.

Yu and Petrie slowed their breathing. And when they would breathe, they would do it so softly that their chest cavities hardly rose. They were trying to keep the noise down as much as they could. They fear that the sharpteeth could still hear their heartbeats. It scared them how their hearts were starting to race, and if the sharpteeth had good hearing, they would surely detect it.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, they finally caught a glimpse of who was tracking them down. The sharpteeth were velociraptors, about ten of them. Petrie had never seen them before, but Yu recognized a couple of them. There was a black raptor with feathers on his head, like Red, and white stripes, and neon green eyes named Jackel. Then there was a pink raptor with a red belly and pale-blue eyes named Jewel. And finally there was a steel gray raptor with red eyes named Meta. Yu wasn't too afraid of Jewel and Meta. They weren't the strongest raptors in the bunch. They were about his age and they would be easy to beat. But Jackel is going to be a challenge. His strength rivals that of Red's.

The mystery raptors snarled and snapped at each other, as if they were arguing. Jackel snarled loudly, and the quarrelling quickly stopped. He turned his head towards Jewel and bobbed his head. She nodded in return, and ran on foward. Yu was confused. Why would Jackel send one of the weakest members of the sickleclaw pack? Maybe to make her look good?

Jewel pressed her snout against the grass and breathed in deeply. She suddenly caught a whiff of something. Not letting herself raise her head for a second, she tracked the smell towards the tree Petrie had flown up into. She growled softly as she looked up, but soon calmed down when she realized her mistake. She turned her attention back to the scent trail. This time she started towards Yu.

Yu felt his heart race as Jewel got closer and closer to the boulder. He was about to back up further when the pink raptor's head popped over the edge, looking down at him with hungry eyes. Yu suddenly jumped from his hiding place and tried to bolt, but tw of the raptors jumped in front of him, blocking his exit. He got into a defensive position as he snarled at the black raptor that stood before him.

"You're lucky the boss wants you alive." Jackel said coldly, his feathers bristling. "If you ask me, he should just have us kill you."

Petrie dove from the tree without warning and knocked the raptor in the eye. "Take that!" He shouted triumphantly as his attack caused the sharptooth to stagger backwards. Petrie's victory was short-lived when he barely dodged an attack from Meta. Petrie screamed in fear when Jewel launched an attack, and he quickly dodged.

Jackel narrowed his eyes. "I want that pest taken care of." He rubbed his sore eye gently.

One of the raptors nodded. "Yes sir!" The other raptors started to chase after Petrie, leaving Yu alone with Jackel.

"Well well well, I didn't know you were still around, little Yu." The sharptooth chuckled coldly.

Yu smirked. "Well I'm surprised you're leading your own pack, Jackel. I could've sworn that you were the worst in athletics!" He looked at his claws. "Come to think of it, you never beat me in an event." He knew he was making a mistake, but he had to stall for time.

"Oh you think that's real funny don't you?" Jackel smiled viciously. "Well, let's see how funny it is when we take you to Chomper to be used as bait."

Yu stepped back. "You'll have to catch me first!" With that, he sprang his feet into action, racing along the floor at top speed, dodging obstacles.

Jackel rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "Why do they always have to do things the hard way?"

* * *

In another place was a fast runner. It was a female, with jade-green color and amber colored eyes, in her right arm was a bracelet with the silver symbol of a treestar with an sharptooth's tooth carved over it. In her hands was a red and white flower, wich she looked with very worried eyes, she was so focused on the flower that she didn't noticed tow figures aproaching her from behind, one was a domehead with a belt with the same symbol, another was a black sickleclaw with orange strips and fire-red eyes wearing a ring in his left hand with the popular symbol, then the domehead spoke. "Tiana"

The fast runner, by hearing her name, turned around to see her two friends. "Tim, Bruce, you came ot see me?"

The domehead, Tim nodded "Yeah, you was gone for a lwhile now, we got worried, right Bruce." He finished looking at the sickleclaw, who just nodded. Bruce wasn't exactly the emotional tipe, and he rarelly ever spoke, he was more of action than of talking. Tiana only smiled at them "Thank you guys, I'm alright." she said in a tone that didn't conviced anyone. Then Bruce, in a rare moment of talking asked "You still worring about him? Don't you?" the both leaf eaters looked at the sharptooth, Tiana could only look down and away, back to the flower in her hands.

"Oh, come on Tiana." Said Tim "He was already strong before joining the order and getting his amulet, he can take care of himself. He will be fine."

"But what if they discover?" she answered in a worried tone "What if they discover that he is with us? What they will do to him? Not even he can take care of all of then alone, speacilly of..." she lost her voice, her worry was so much that she had dificult talking. Tim, her domehead friend only sighed and walked next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, I know you're worried about him, that you like him very much and don't want any bad to happen to him, but you have to have faith in him. Trust me, he can handle himself, he is a grow up." She turned to him to face his smile. "He will be okay. now lets get something to eat, I'm starving." Tiana was able to smile back, they leaved as she stayed behind with the flower. She closed her eyes and said in a low voice "Spirits, please protect him while he is in there. Help him come back safe to my arms." And with this she opened her eyes and plated the flower in the ground. Soon it sprouted a lot of flowers just like that one around the place she planted. She smiled and leaved after her friends.


	35. Vanished Guardians and The Offer

Part IV: The Betrayal

Yu ran as fast as his legs could push him. He didn't know where he was going. But he knew he had to get away from Jackel, who was now pursuing him along with Meta. Yu was still young, not yet fully grown. And he knew too well that he still couldn't reach the top speeds an adult raptor could. He would have to outmanuever his pursuers. As he felt his heart pounding, racing, he saw something ahead. A boulder from the previous earthshake, laying there. It wasn't gigantic. He could make the jump. Not even looking back, Yu stopped in front of the boulder, tensed up the muscles in his legs, and released it in a powerful leap.

He sailed through the air, and extended out his front claws. Time seemed to slow down as he neared the boulder's rocky surface, and felt his claws scrape into the hard stone. He quickly kicked his legs forward, his sickle claw scraping noisily against the surface, trying to push the rest of his body upward. Hearing the sound of racing footfalls, Yu felt his adrenaline rise and he managed to pull himself on top of the large stone. He braced himself near the edge of the boulder, and pounced downward. He quickly pressed himself against the back of the boulder in the dark shadowy part. He could only hope that this would buy him enough time to escape the raptor's clutches.

Littlefoot stepped out of the cave. He raised his head towards the sky. The moon was still out. Littlefoot stared at it for several moments, and then turned his head towards the land he had called home. He shivered. He couldn't believe this is where he had grown up. He could almost see his childhoodself, running along the meadow with his pals, back in the days of innocense. He could feel a tear come to his eye as memories of dinosaurs like Cera and Shorty plagued his mind. Who would have guessed they would have to go this way, in this manner?

"I'm sorry...I should have..." He choked back a tear. His voice couldn't come up with the strength to talk any further. He lifted his head up high, seeing everything as far as the eye could see. He could not see any movement, any life. He wondered if the other dinosaurs escaped, or if they were all dead. "Huh. Some Great Valley..." Littlefoot whispered bitterly. He could vaguely remember a childhood memory, way back when he first met Ali. The Old One had mentioned that lands are changing. "I guess the Great Valley wasn't saved from changing..." He said mournfully.

Then he remembered Ali. She was still carrying the child. He had thought she left, but Ducky had reported seeing her still in the valley. "Why hasn't she left...?" Ali knew it was too dangerous to stay here while the sharpteeth were still around. He would have to find her and talk to her. But before he could take a single step forward, he heard footsteps coming from one side of him. He turned his head over and saw that it was Ali who was trotting towards him. The look on her face was both serious and sad.

"Ali!" Littlefoot exclaimed, sounding both happy and angry. "Why haven't you left the Great Valley?"

"I don't think I should, Littlefoot." Ali whispered sullenly, bowing her head.

"What..? Why not?" Littlefoot asked.

Ali looked up at the sky. While she couldn't see anything, there was still a look of fear on her face. "I know Chomper has his evil flyers up there, keeping watch." She looked directly into Littlefoot's eyes. "If I try to leave, they'd spy me for sure, and then what?"

Littlefoot gulped. He had forgotten about the sharptooth flyers that Chomper had allied himself with. Ali could still fight while pregnant, but the extra weight, even though small, would slow her down a bit, which would give the flyers an advantage. Littlefoot couldn't leave. He had to stay and help the remaining dinosaurs combat the sharpteeth.

"I-I don't know what to do Ali...I..."

"M-M-Messa take girl...Messa protect...g-girl..." A familiar, croaking voice said.

Littlefoot and Ali whipped their heads around to see a spiketail staggering towards them. He was almost unrecognizable. Most of his plates were broken and two of his four tailspikes were ripped off. Deep gashes covered his body, most had stopped bleeding. Much of his skin was stained with blood. But the one part that didn't change was his face, and from there Littlefoot and Ali knew who it was.

"Spike..." Littlefoot whispered. "What happened to you...?"

"Tried...to..save...him..." Spike choked out and he collapsed on the floor. Littlefoot and Ali rushed to his side. Spike looked up at them with dull eyes. "Littlefoot...sorry..."

"We have to find help! Ali, go find Doc and Ducky!"

Ali didn't need to be told twice. She went back into the cave to try and locate Doc and Ducky. Meanwhile Littlefoot stayed by Spike's side, consoling him. Spike was still alive, but Littlefoot didn't know how bad the wounds were. Even if they stopped bleeding, there was the account of how much blood was lost, and how much new blood the body was producing. There was also the risk of infection in the still open wounds. The longneck almost gagged as he saw a tiny fly crawl out of one of the wounds.

Littlefoot nudged Spike to keep him awake. "Spike, who did this to you...?"

"Pr-protecting...f-father...Killed..." Spike managed to say before he went into a coughing fit. Some blood poured out of his mouth.

"Who? Who were you protecting...?" Littlefoot asked cautiously.

(A/N I can't remember if Littlefoot already knew about his father's death or not.)

Spike whispered one word, causing a shiver of cold fear to go through the young longneck's body. "B-B-Bron..."

Littlefoot's eyes snapped wide open, his pupils shrank in diameter. His body started shaking, and a few tears streamed from his eyes. "No...no..." He shook his head, trying to deny the fact that Spike had given him. "It can't be, not him. No someone else..." He looked at Spike. "Tell me...was it Chomper again...?"

Spike could only manage a single nod before slipping into unconsciousness. The mention of Chomper's name caused Littlefoot's mind to be whacked with anger, instense anger. He almost refused to believe Ducky's advice about Chomper being possessed. He didn't have much time to mourn when Ali came out of the cave, followed by Ducky and Doc. Ducky cried out in terror as she saw her adopted brother laying on his side, out cold. She rushed towards his body and threw her arms around him, crying.

"Spike..No..no! You can't die, no no no!" She whispered as she buried her face into his neck, ignoring the blood that was pouring onto her.

Doc seemed a bit horrified by the sight too, but years of seeing stuff like that had calloused him a little. He took one look at Spike, and gave a small smile. "He'll live. He just needs to rest while his wounds heal."

(A/N I have no idea if aloe existed in the dinosaur world.)

While Ducky heard the news and was happy, she still couldn't bring herself to stop sobbing. Doc lowered his head to the ground and snapped off an odd shaped plant. It looked like thick blades of grass with slightly jagged edges, but it wasn't sharp. One of them was snapped in two and Littlefoot could see a clear juice inside of it. Curiousity got the better of him. "What's that..?"

Doc couldn't answer right away. He brought the thick strands of grass-like protrusions and set them beside Spike. As soon as the stuff was out of his mouth, he said, "It's a special plant. You break them in half and set them on top of a wound. The medicine inside will kill off any infection and assist in healing." He watched as Ducky picked up one of the aloe sticks and placed it onto one of Spike's open wounds. When Spike cried out in pain, he said, "They will sting a little."

(A/N Heh my third author's note within the story itself. I got the idea for the alimons protecting the valley from EbonyPatriot's story and Sora's story.)

Without warning, Littlefoot suddenly had a huge plague of memories swarm through his mind. He suddenly remembered his grandparents, before they died, telling him about the alimon guardians. He had never seen an alimon before, but he was told that they looked like longnecks but had sharp teeth and sharp claws. They sounded scary to him, but something just didn't seem right. If the alimons were supposed to be guarding the Great Valley, why did Chomper appear in the valley?

"Say Doc..." Littlefoot spoke up. "Have you heard about the alimons that protect the valley?"

Doc looked at him. "I believe so."

"Where are they...?" He asked softly as he stared at the great walls circling the once paradise valley.

"I have no idea." Doc looked in the same direction as Littlefoot. "It is strange for them not to stop intruders. The only thing I can think of is that either they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of sharpteeth coming or someone who knew magic stopped them..." His voice trailed off as he suddenly remembered one individual who could. "I think I know who did it."

"Did what?"

"I think I know who stopped the alimons from leaving their home in the caves." Doc said solemnly. "It had to have been him..."

Littlefoot whispered, "Who...?"

Miles away, Rex had decided to take yet another walk. He was feeling restless, feeling the tension of the downtime. It's been about two days since the war had ceased, but the smell of battle was still in the air. He was haunted with the smell of rotting flesh that filled the air of the valley now. He went in one direction, his wings spread wide in case he needed to take flight.

"Why did this have to happen? This isn't how it was supposed to be..." Rex now wished he could go back in time to when he was a careless child, back in the days of youth and play, where he didn't have to worry about battles and life and death situations.

He then saw a small lizard. The lizard was a poor excuse for a reptile, being smaller than the tooth of a large sharptooth. It was a bright green with a pale yellow underside. The lizard reminded him of the tinysauruses that Littlefoot told him about. He often wondered where they had gone, but he was convinced that they were hiding underground. They wouldn't be of much help to the others. They would killed killed for sure!

The lizard let out a small chirping sound, indicating it was threatened by Rex's face being so close to it. Rex snarled a little and the lizard started to run away. Without warning one of Rex's eyes glowed red and he opened his mouth to scream something, but something else had happened.

A fireball, small in side, burning with intense heat and flames, formed outside of his mouth and blasted forward like a small bomb. It hurled at the lizard and struck it. The lizard let out a pained scream as the flames burned its body. Rex watched as some of the internal organs came into view and then burst into flames as the fire spread inside its tiny body. Within seconds, the lizard was reduced to a tiny black skeleton, which soon burst into dust and was carried away through the wind.

Rex's eye returned to normal and horror registered in his mind. He looked at his claws, and then placed them onto his snout. He could feel no burn, no pain, no heat. But the smell of smoke and fire was still in the air, and he let out a few coughs. Right where he had struck the lizard, there was no fire, but a ring of ash circled where the lizard once was.

"W-What did I just do...?" He said, shaking in fear.

"Good." A dark voice said from behind him. Rex turned around to see who it was. "It has begun."

"Chomper!" Rex said in fear, but he braced himself for a fight. He was surprised at what Chomper said next.

Putting his short hand out, he said, "I didn't come here to fight. I came here to make a proposition for you." Rex didn't say anything, so Chomper continued. "Why don't you join me?"

Rex breathed out so quickly that a puff of smoke came out. Ignoring it, he growled, "Why would I join you?"

Chomper smiled. "I knew you'd ask that. So I brought a little friend over." He turned his head over his shoulder. "Oh boys...?"

The dracovol was horrified when two sickleclaws emerged from the shadows, carrying a prone figure with them. They held the dinosaur up by his arms. The dinosaur was green with blue stripes. Rex recognized him in an instant.

"Yu!"


	36. No Choice

Part IV: The Betrayal

Rex growled at Chomper. He wanted to lunge at him. He wanted to use his claws and rip out his throat. How dare he do something so low! Chomper had captured a dinosaur and was now going to use it against Rex, he knew that. The dracovol's heart was filling with anger as he thought of the horrible things Chomper may have done to Yu in his capture. Even though Yu looked fine, that didn't mean that there wasn't a hidden gash somewhere, out of sight.

Chomper noticed Rex's anger and merely smiled. Bowing his head forward, pointing his sharp horns in Rex's direction, he said, "That's right...Let your heart fill with anger. That is the fuel for your true form..."

Rex blinked with confusion. His true form? He might've been talking about the creepy form he had seen in the water earlier. The one glowing red eye, he could feel it when he spat out fire just moments before. The red eye appeared when he was starting to feel angry about something. And now that he thought about it, he could feel the red eye once more, when he was getting angry at Chomper. Horrified, he covered his eye with his hand to conceal the unusual light.

"Oh you shouldn't hide the eye. It's a symbol of your power." Chomper grinned, more to himself than for Rex. "You are stronger than you think, Rex. And you belong to me..." He held out a hand and made a gesture for Rex to come closer.

The blue flyer snarled in response and took a step back. "I'm not joining you! No way on this planet would I ever consider doing that!" He closed his eyes and folded his arms stubbornly.

Chomper's red eyes narrowed dangerously. "Not even if it's to save your friend..?" He pointed his head towards Yu, who was still out cold.

Rex snapped out of his composure and whirled in Chomper's directions, eyes wide with anger and fear. "Y-You wouldn't dare..." He muttered.

"Oh...would I...?" Chomper growled almost playfully as he snapped one of his claws. Almost instantly, one of the sickleclaws opened their jaws and lightly set them around Yu's throat. He didn't bite down, but he was threatening too. After a few moments of this, Chomper raised his hand, and the sickleclaw stopped.

Rex gulped and looked at Chomper in fear. He was faced with a tough situation. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. And he had no idea how to get out. His eyes hardly leaving Chomper or Yu, Rex felt his mind fill to capacity with useless questions about what to do. He knew he couldn't just leave Yu to be destroyed by this...this monster! But he also couldn't join Chomper. He'd be a traitor, and he didn't want to break the trust that he had built with Littlefoot and the others. It was a lose/lose situation for him. If only he could just find some way out of it. But his mind was drawing up a blank. He knew the situation was black and white. Either he did what Chomper told him, or Yu would die. It was as simple as that. There was no way around it.

Rex took a step forward. "Why would you want me to do join you?" A hint of challenge was on his voice.

"Why?" Chomper asked, eyes wide almost as if shocked by what Rex had just said. "Why, dear Rex..." He said with a hint of sarcasm. "You would make a very valuable asset to my group. And if you join, you won't be attacked by my troups." He tapped his claws together. "Think about it. You'll be safer with us than with them, the plant-eaters. You belong with us, Rex. You are a sharptooth."

"Oh yeah? Are you sure it isn't because my past life was a flamebreath?" He asked almost angrily. To prove his point, he gathered in his mind as much anger as he could and he could feel a flame burn inside his mouth. Instinctively, he spat it out, and the fireball struck close to the ground to where Chomper was. Chomper however showed no fear whatsoever. He just glanced at the area where the fireball struck, and then eyed Rex again.

He spoke, "Tsk tsk tsk. You really need to work on your aim." He grinned.

Rex growled angrily, but when Chomper raised his hand again to signal for one of the raptors to try and pull something, Rex stopped in his tracks. He was breathing heavily now, from the emotions that now invaded his brain and wouldn't leave him alone. He kept trying to find the best solution, but both decisions that he could make would make him hate himself, and there would still be death and suffering. Taking one glance back at Yu's unconscious form, he turned back to Chomper. He bowed his head in defeat.

"All right... you win..." He muttered, though it was clear he wasn't happy with his decision and how he had to have made it.

Chomper smirked evilly and nodded his head at the raptors. Simultaeneously, they released Yu, tossing him to the floor next to Rex. The rough impact against cold earth was enough to startle the young raptor into waking up. "What? Who? When? Where? Why?" He said really fast before he came to his senses. "Man what happened?" He turned to see Rex standing next to him. "Hi Rex." He said almost cheerfully.

Rex took one look at Yu, and his expression changed to sadness. He didn't answer Yu's greeting. Yu tilted his head. "Rex? What's wrong?" But still Rex wouldn't answer. The dracovol took one look at Chomper, and then looked back at Yu.

He whispered, "I'm...sorry Yu..." With that sad, Rex started walking towards Chomper. The young raptor had suspected the dracovol was going to attack. He was shocked when Rex didn't attack, but rather stood beside him.

Yu scrambled to his feet. "Rex? What do you think you're doing? You can't do this...you can't do this...You...You...How could you?" He pointed an accusing finger at Rex, shaking from confusion and rising anger. Rex simply turned his head away, ashamed.

Chomper answered for him. "He's coming with me. Rex did this to save you, Yu. Rex is part of my troups now." Smiling at the velociraptor's horrified expression, the carnotaurus looked down at his new and yet unwilling companion. "And I already have a mission for you. You'll get a real kick out of it..." He smiled darkly. Rex looked up at his new master, awaiting orders. He didn't want to do this, but if he wanted Yu to survive, he'd have no choice.

"I want you...to find Littlefoot...and attack him!" Something inside Rex stirred. And all those nearby could see that one of his eyes started to glow bloody red...

* * *

In there, hidden behind some bushes was a jade colored sickleclaw, Salen, his face a mix of fear, anger and grief. "This is what I feared."


	37. Plan in Motion

(A/N Yes, this chapter has a couple mild hints of slash.)

Part IV: The Betrayal

Yu could feel his heart racing. Leaves kicked up into the air as he zipped by. He wouldn't stop for anything. Nothing could make him stop. He wasn't being chased by anyone physically. He was being driven by horror and realization. He felt the muscles in his legs start burning, as if he was using up too much of their energy to run. He looked behind him. He could not see anyone chasing after him, but he kept feeling this sensation that someone was. He had to reach the cave. He had to try and warn Littlefoot. Things had taken a turn for the worse. Yu knew that Chomper could be very influential, but he didn't realize just how influential.

How could this have happened? This wasn't supposed to happen! No, not this! Yu's mind was plagued with several different emotions, including anger, fear, and confusion. He just kept on running. He had no idea where the cave was now that he thought about it, but he believed that risking getting there was better than not trying anything at all. "I have to get there in time..." He told himself.

His throat was starting to get dry now. He hadn't had a drink of water in a while, and all this extra running was making him feel dehydrated. He started to slow down a little, despite the danger. He finally came to a full stop up against a tree near a clearing. He looked out ahead, and could see the other side of the valley, and a cave-like structure. He gave a small smile. It had to be the others! "Almost...there..." He whispered, and started to drag his weakened body forward, tail dragging along the ground and body hunched forward.

* * *

Rex had watched, almost coldly, as Yu ran forward. Chomper stood beside him, looking down at him in an almost loving manner. Chomper seemed proud, like a father, that Rex had chosen to come for him. The dracovol's appearance had changed, and that's what startled Yu into dashing off. Rex was larger, now about the same size as Chomper. He still walked upright, but his claws were a lot longer and sharper, and he had long sharp spike sticking out of his back. His wings were now ripped and torn but he could still somehow fly. He had two sharp teeth protruding downwards like sabreteeth, and two others pointing upwards, like tusks. One of his eyes had a red glow to it.

Chomper didn't know why his appearance changed like that. But considering how Rex's former life was a dragon, perhaps this was sort of a fusion of the two, part dragon and part dinosaur. He merely shrugged. He found himself resting his head on the back of Rex's neck, inbetween two of the sharp spikes. The anthro dinosaur did nothing to push Chomper away. In fact, he almost seemed to welcome it. Rex did need the assurance that he would still have friends.

"So, are you ready?" Chomper asked as he pulled himself away from Rex.

"Couldn't be more ready." Rex answered back, his voice sounded almost robotic and lifeless.

The other snarled with satisfaction. "Good..."

"Hey! Boss!" A voice rang out, almost startling the two sharpteeth. From behind ran Dil, Ichy riding on her back. Beside them was Loc, who was holding a knocked out Gorjak. "We captured Gorjak fo-Hey! What's he doing here!" Ichy demanded, pointing a finger at the dracovol. "I thought you told us he was with them rotten little animals!" Well technically they weren't really little anymore.

Chomper turned around and slowly walked towards the group that had just presented themselves, brushing his flank and tail against Rex's side in doing so. "Not anymore."

Dil's weak eyes widened with shock. "Not anymore...? You mean he's one of us now?" She turned her head towards the general direction of Loc. Though she could hardly see it, he gave a shrug and shook his head.

Loc stepped forth. "Are you sure this is wise, General Chomper?" He never took his eyes off of Rex, despite the shocking new look. "How can we be certain he'd do what you told him to do and pull off whatever task you have?"

As a response, Rex whirled around. He opened his mouth at a whopping 90 degrees, much like that of pythons and anacondas, and rushed forward towards Loc. The red carnotaurus had little time to react when the gaping mouth clamped down only a milimeter from his head. He recoiled back, alarmed by this sudden response. Rex felt his own mouth curl into a terrible smile.

"Not only will I pull it off, I'll chew it up and spit it out!" He responded in a growly demonic voice.

Loc gulped, putting one of his feet behind him. "If you put it that way..." Loc wasn't sure if he liked the new Rex. "Chomper, what do you plan to do with him?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious? I'm recruiting him for a very special mission." The blue carnotaurus flexed out his hand claws, stretching out the muscle. "He's going to locate the cave that my dear old friend Littlefoot his hiding in." He said those words with heavy sarcasm. "Then he's going to lure him to me..." He looked towards the dracovol, the torn wings twitching a little. "Isn't that right, flamebreath?"

Rex gave a single nod, his bright red eye looking in the direction of his new master.

Upon hearing the word 'flamebreath', Loc stifled a gasp. "Flamebreath! You can't use that in a war!" He protested, shaking visibly. "I thought there was a law against it, or something!"

Dil and Ichy looked at each other, confused as to what was going on. Ichy got off of Dil's armored back and perched himself on the snout of Loc. He lowered his head, lightly pressing the back of his smooth black beak between the dinosaur's eyes. "Hey, Loc. Just what is a flamebreath...?" Loc shook his head almost violently, and Ichy had to take flight. "Hey, watch it, pal!"

"A flamebreath...according to legend, is something...something like a dinosaur, only it isn't a dinosaur. They have sharp talons and huge wings...they got spikes and horns... They usually gigantic and tenacious. They have an appetite for blood and flesh, and are relentess in their hunts. They can breath flames from their mouth, and survive intense heat. Some say they can live inside smoking mountains. They say that their scales are fireproof." Loc said slowy and carefully, the look of fear in his wide eyes still present.

Dil and Ichy said nothing. Their mouths dropped in horror, and they slowly turned their heads, looking at each other straight in the eyes. Such a creature sounded almost impossible to exist, and yet one was standing before them: Rex. This creature of mass destruction sounded like something out of a horror story, something that could bring about apocalypse. If there truly was a law that banned using them in a war, they could clearly see the reason why.

Chomper didn't have much time for this. He turned his head towards Rex, giving him a sideways glance. "You ready to go now?"

Rex smiled evilly. "Oh yes, I am..."

"Good. Go!"

* * *

Littlefoot was pacing around nervously just outside of the cave. Everyone else was inside, but he was still outside. He wasn't sure why he hadn't gone back inside. Maybe it was because he was too scared. Maybe he felt compelled to stay outside. Whatever the reason, he couldn't bring himself to go back inside.

His thought were interrupted when something seemed to burst along the ground, and a green figure, battered and bruised, collapsed down in front of him. As Littlefoot approached the near prone figure, he gasped.

"Yu! What happened to you!" Littlefoot used his tail to lift Yu onto his feet.

The raptor strugged to stand on his wobbly legs. He brushed himself off slowly and looked up at the towering longneck. Ignoring any feeling of shock about this new size, Yu chatted nervously, "I-I-It's Rex! I think he...I think...he..."

Littlefoot looked at the sickleclaw intently, voice laced with worry. "What happened to Rex?"

"Chomper forced him to switch sides!"

While Littlefoot's head snapped back, both from the shock of it all, and anger that Yu would accuse Rex of such a thing, a figure stepped from the bushes. The familiar straight body, the straight legs, the kind face, all were revealed as the figure walked towards them. His expression was that of hurt.

"Why Yu...how could you say such a thing?" He said in an unnaturally sweet voice.


	38. Distorted Truth

(AN: Here continue the slash, don't like don't read.)

Part IV: The Betrayal

Yu lifted his tail high and flexed out his claws threateningly. His lips curled back exposing his razor sharp teeth, he walked slowly forward, leg muscles flexed to jump in for the kill. "Don't trust him, Littlefoot... This isn't the Rex you knew..." Rex only gave a knowing smile as the velociraptor prepared to attack him. He could hear the sickle claw tap against the ground, the clicking noise that would send chills up most creatures' spines, but not his.

Yu growled at Rex's calm composure. The dracovol didn't seem to care that Yu was threatening to rip out his threat, to dig his claws into his vulnerable belly, to make him bleed. Hissing like crazy, Yu broke out into a run, mouth wide open to deliver one ferocious bite. And all the while, Rex just stood there, smiling with that creepy grin on his face...

"Yu! Stop!" Littlefoot shouted angrily. As Yu skidding to a sudden stop, he continued, "This is Rex here! How can you accuse him of such treachery?"

Rex turned to Yu with a satisfied smile that told him he was in trouble. Yu scowled at this, and turned to Littlefoot. "You've got to trust me! It's not safe with him! He's...changed...Littlefoot. He's changed."

Littlefoot could not believe what he was hearing. Yu, accusing Rex of being a traitor! The longneck could very well remember what happened so long ago. He could recall the day that Kumo first appeared in their lives. He could remember how the raptors and his own friends thought Rex betrayed them. He remembered that it took Kumo himself to clear Rex's name. And now Yu was actually accusing Rex, once more, of traitory. Since the last time Rex was innocent, why couldn't he be this time around? Littlefoot knew the dracovol well. He knew that he would never really betray him!

"I'm sorry, Yu...but I just don't believe you." The velociraptor gasped. "I mean, how do I know this isn't some sort of mix-up? Maybe it was Kumo you saw."

Yu shook his head violently. "No! It was Rex, I swear!"

Rex shook his head, chuckling softly. "Such an imagination, young raptor. Such an imagination." He looked at Littlefoot, and smiled. "Ah, he probably ate something that's making him delirious. Don't worry about him."

"It's not my imagination! I saw you strike the deal with Chomper!" He pointed an accusing finger at Rex.

"That is enough Yu." Littlefoot spoke softly. "Why don't you go inside the cave and speak with Doc? Maybe he'll tell you why you're imagining things."

Yu snarled angrily as he walked away. "The one day I actually want to save someone who is supposed to be my prey, and he doesn't believe me! How typical. You longnecks were always so easy to trick!" He disappeared into the cave, leaving Littlefoot and Rex all alone.

The dracovol closed his eyes and leaned against the bark of a sturdy and strong tree. It seemed to rise for about a mile high. "That Yu...he's something, isn't he?"

"Yeah...I can't believe he would actually accuse you of joining the dark side! Heh, can you think of something more ridiculous?"

"No, I can't say I can." Rex replied, not opening his eyes once.

"So where you, actually?" Littlefoot pondered, walking up to his dracovol friend. "You've been gone for quite some time."

Rex looked at his longnecked friend, and gave a shrug. "Eh, out for a walk."

"Some walk..." Littlefoot smirked softly, raising an eyebrow. "You were gone half the day."

"So I wanted some alone time, okay?" The dracovol snapped, clawing into the bark of the tree with the nails on his right hand. "Is there a problem with that or something?"

The longneck backed away a little, surprised at the dracovol's sudden, if mild, anger. What happened to Rex? Could Yu have been right? No! No he can't be right! Rex is probably just stressed out because of the war and Chomper and such. Yeah, it must be the stress doing this to him. Littlefoot himself was feeling more bitter ever since this whole battle had started. The agony of war had pelted him with uncomfortable nightmares, making him more aggressive each day, though he tried to hide it from his friends.

"No..no problem." Littlefoot murmured softly. "I didn't want to make you angry..."

Rex turned to him, and softened his expression. He stopped leaning against the tree, and walked towards the plant eater with an almost creepy smile on his snout. "That's all right. I was just a little angry is all..." He faked a thinking pose. "Oh, say, why don't we go for a little walk? I'm sure the others won't mind if we were gone a few minutes." He grinned. "Just to chat."

Littlefoot shifted his gaze up towards the dark skies. "Hmm...I don't know..." He looked back at the cave. "If they noticed we were gone, wouldn't they come looking for us?"

"We'll be back before they even know we left." Rex said. "Trust me."

Littlefoot pondered this for a few minutes. If they would only be gone a few minutes, then the others could take care of themselves. Surely they wouldn't panic even if they did notice they were gone. Surely they'd realize he'd be back soon. And Littlefoot did want to talk to Rex about something. Yeah, a walk would do him some good. It would calm his nerves.

"All right, Rex. Let's go." He went by the flying sharptooth's side. "Just remember, we need to be back in a few minutes." He reminded his blue sharptooth pal.

Rex smiled maliciously, but Littlefoot didn't see it. "Oh I will. Don't you worry..."

Hiding among the trees stood Chomper. He watched as Rex started to lure Littlefoot away. As they left, Chomper couldn't help but stare at Rex and his form. "He does look good..." He shook himself, knowing he had to keep his mind on the mission. He couldn't be thinking about love right now! This was the worst time!

He looked in the direction where they had gone. He didn't know how far back the cave was. But he didn't need to worry about finding it. Once Littlefoot was taken care of, Rex would lead Chomper to the cave. Everything was going according to plan.

"He will be mine." Chomper whispered, and he started to follow Rex to make sure he didn't back down on his word.


	39. The Cold Turn

Part IV: The Betrayal

Yu muttered angrily to himself as he walked through the cave entrance. He didn't bother looking back to see Littlefoot and Rex walking away. He really didn't care now. "That stupid Littlefoot...not believing me...why! How could he fall for that...that creature's tricks!" In aggrivation, he clicked his sickle claw against the ground, the sound echoing in the cave.

Yu pressed his claws against the wall of the cave and scratched downward, creating squeaking sounds as claw grazed against solid rock. He looked at his newly sharpened claws as he entered a wide opening in the cave where he spotted a few dinosaurs: Ducky, Spike, Doc, Ali, and Petrie. Petrie must've escaped the raptors and came to the cave. As Yu walked closer, he realized there was another guest in the group. There was a figure laying on the ground that at first Yu did not recognize. But as he drew closer, Doc immediately got to his feet and Ali also got up, despite her pregnancy. She still hadn't left yet, for fear that her pregnancy would slow her down in battle, leaving her vulnerable.

Doc looked at Ali and said, "No, you stay down." His firm voice was enough for Ali, and she sat back down next to the other dinosaurs. Doc then walked over to the green velociraptor, looking a little tense. "What are you doing here, sharptooth?"

Yu looked up at the large sauropod, and smiled weakly. "I'm Yu, a friend of Littlefoot and his pals." He spotted Ali, and added, "Well most of his pals anyway." He chuckled, though he knew there wasn't anything funny going on. Doc didn't look like he particularly believed him, but Ducky stood up.

"He's telling the truth, yep yep yep." For the first time in hours, Ducky left her step brother's side temporary. "He is Yu. He does not want to hurt us, no no no." She gave a smile at Yu before looking at her brother sympathetically. Spike was still down, wound still not healed after the recent attack from Chomper. While his blood has stopped leaking from his scaly body, he's still weak. It would be suicide to let him go outside. All Spike can do now is conserve his energy as much as he can. Ducky walked back towards her brother and laid down next to him, and curled up as close as she could. As Yu watched, he could see a tear trinkling down the duckbill's face.

"What happened to him?" Yu asked, pointing towards the stegosaurus.

Doc still wasn't so sure about the sharptooth. But then he remembered Sandstorm, the sharptooth that deserted the army. Perhaps Yu is like him. He lowered his head down so he was about eye level with Yu. "Chomper attacked him. Spike was lucky to escape with his life."

Yu narrowed his eyes. "Chomper did this, eh?" He shook his head, eyes closed. "Figures. He'd be the one to do something like this."

"But maybe he isn't." Doc said, raising his neck up high. Yu looked up at him with a puzzled look. "Recently, Ducky had an interesting encounter with Chomper." He eyed the young duckbill. "She told us that it seemed like something was possessing Chomper. And if this is true..."

"...Then it means Rex is possessed as well." Yu said as-a-matter-of-factly.

This caught Doc by surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Rex is possessed as well, by some ancient spirit possibly." Yu lowered his gaze. "It's turned him into a fire-breathing monster, and he's leading Littlefoot away to kill him!"

"Are you sure you aren't..."

"NO!" Yu shouted angrily. "I am NOT imagining things! Littlefoot is putting himself in danger! If we don't do something soon..." He stopped talking, unable to say anymore.

"Me no see why you so worried." Petrie spoke from his spot. "Littlefoot just with Rex."

"But I..."

"Petrie's right." Doc said. "There's nothing to worry about. Littlefoot can take care of himself. I should know, because I'm..." But before he could finish his sentence, the figure in the corner rose to his feet.

"I wouldn't say there's nothing to worry about, Doc." He stated as he walked towards them. "After all, he- Yu?" He said, looking rather surprised to see the green raptor in the cave. "What are you doing here?"

"Sandstorm!" Yu nearly shrieked. "I should ask you the same thing!"

"Now now, calm down, both of you!" Doc instructed, putting his large foot in between the two sharpteeth to keep them from fighting each other. "Now, Sandstorm, what is it you were saying?" Yu growled as he waited for Sandstorm's reply.

"As I was saying..." He glared at Yu before continuing, "Rex's past life is a flamebreath, as you probably know already. If that flamebreath has taken control of him, then Rex has the fire-breathing powers. He could easily kill Littlefoot if he wanted." He stopped glaring, and focused his attention on the longneck. "If Yu is right, and Rex is working with Chomper now, then Littlefoot is definitely in big trouble."

"Yeah, but also from you." Yu commented, snorting at the tan sickleclaw.

"Don't you mean you, Yu?" Sandstorm snapped, hissing through his clenched teeth.

"I SAID STOP IT!" Doc shouted, starting to lose his patience as he stomped on the ground, causing the ground to shake a little. The two raptors immediately stopped their bickering and looked up almost fearfully at the towering diplodocus.

* * *

Littlefoot walked alongside Rex as the two ventured deep in the forest. Littlefoot felt nervous the further they went. They were going into a part of the valley he's never seen before. And if he had, it was a long time ago, like when he was a kid. Vines grew so long, wrapping around the tree, and some dangled so low they nearly touched the ground. A few small streams zig-zagged across the ground. Tiny leaves in trees huddled so closely they caused the branch to lower towards the ground. Some ferns seemed to fan out like a flyer opening his wingspan. A few small rats scampered across the ground and into their burrows.

"How far did you want to walk?" He finally asked after long moments of unbearable silence.

Rex turned his glance sideways, and for a brief moment, he spotted Chomper in the distance, watching them. Rex turned to his old friend, and grinned. "Just for a little while longer. Trust me, it's not too far."

"Sure, all right." But his voice held unsureness and nervousness. Littlefoot was beginning to wonder once again if Yu had been telling the truth. But he refused to believe the one whom he found as an egg would suddenly turn on him. But memories flooded back to him as he realized that Chomper was like that too, and he betrayed them. He gulped as he looked at Rex.

Rex stopped walking. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He turned to the longneck, and folded his arms, and waited for the longneck to give him whatever answers he wanted.

Littlefoot stopped as well. "Well...I just wanted to know why you're acting like this."

Rex cocked an eyebrow. "Acting...like what?"

"Like that." He repeated almost sternly. "Ever since you returned, you have been acting a little weird, I gotta admit." He pawed the ground, pondering about things. "Your attitude is different...I mean before you were worried about your ancient half, and now you act as though you never knew about it." He shrugged. "And you never used to get so angry before, and you act so distant now...Why?"

The answer he had just given flabbergasted the dracovol. He couldn't really think of an answer, at least none that would make sense. He quickly surveyed his surroundings. They were in a remote enough part of the valley anyway. They needn't travel any further.

He raised his arms up in a threatening manner, and his lips curled back, exposing his razor sharp teeth. "Guess what Littlefoot? You should've listened to Yu..." He then let out a roar and as he did so his body changed. He grew larger, four of his teeth grew longer, his claws grew sharper, sharp spines rose from his back, and his wings ripped in several places.

Littlefoot was horrified by this sudden transformation. "Yu was right..." He gasped, panting. "He was right... You are a traitor!" He said accusingly, baring his own teeth at the transformed dracovol.

"Oh I wouldn't call it being a traitor..." Rex said tauntingly. "More like joining a bigger team."

"And there he goes." Chomper said in an almost proud manner, like a father. After the kill, he wanted to get closer to Rex. He couldn't shake these feelings he had for the dracovol. He watched the dracovol advance towards Littlefoot, claws extended for the kill. The carnotaurus felt his lips curl back in satisfaction. He knew the end was almost near. There was no way Littlefoot could defend against a dragon!

But something caught Chomper's eye. He shifted his gaze towards the sky, and could see a figure flying in their direction. His pupils dilated as he realized who it was. "Gorjak." He hissed. He must've escaped the ones who captured him. Chomper paid him no heed, but if he ruins his perfect plan, he would rip that flyer from limb to limb.

"Wait...he is not flying alone..." He whispered, eyes widened in shock.

There, in the distance, running under the sharptooth flyer, was an alimon...


	40. The Second Spy

Part IV: The Betrayal

"Oh no you don't..." Chomper whispered. He was feeling a bit horrified that Gorjak brought an alimon with him. Chomper thought that the alimons couldn't see them. He was taught a special spell by Slasher that would make him and his army invisible to the alimon's acute senses. Chomper knew very well about the alimon pack that guarded the valley and if they were alerted, the balance of power would surely shift. While there were evil alimons around, most of them that were in the valley had a strong sense of justice, and if anyone of them found out about his plans... Gorjak must've been a spy! Another spy just like Yu was. That would be why Gorjak is leading an alimon. He must've given the alimon a spell that neutralizes Chomper's own spell!

"I won't let you ruin this..." The carnotaurus charged forward, snapping his jaws angrily. "Things are going according to plan!" He ran through the brush and foliage, heading straight towards the flying sharptooth and his alimon accomplice. What he was doing was futile. Gorjak could just fly out of reach and the alimon could easily defeat him, no doubt about it. The alimon race was the only dinosaur species that Chomper feared, even with a large army pack to back him up.

The alimon noticed Chomper's charge, and immediately took action. It rose onto its hind legs and lunged its front limbs forward. It grasped onto Chomper's horns, and pulled him onto the ground, forcing the sharptooth to crash into the ground. The alimon squeezed the horns so tightly that they started to crack. This was an impressive feet, considering that Chomper was a 21 ft long one ton predator while this alimon was only around 200 pounds and a mere 12 ft long. Then again, all alimons possess seemingly unnatural strength, speed, and intelligence. Chomper shook himself free, knocking the alimon down onto its back. The blue meat-eating dinosaur quickly got onto his feet, and tried to stomp on the alimon.

"No!"

Gorjak, out of nowhere, flies directly at Chomper, and started pecking at his right eye. Chomper withdrew and immediately started clawing at Gorjak. The toothed flyer flew back, and high up, out of harm's way.

The alimon comprehended the moment for a while. The alimon was a female named Shuva. She was a grassy green with seagreen along her back, from the tip of her nose all the way to the tip of her tail. Her claws were a light blue in color. Her mane was a ligher shade of seagreen. She stood there, pondering if she should help Gorjak, or help the longneck, who was being attacked by a dragon/dinosaur hybrid of some sort, with a creepy glowing red eye. Shuva knew she didn't have long to decide. She finally decided that Gorjak, with his ability to fly, could handle Chomper on his own. She turned around and started walking calmly towards the longneck. A fight hadn't broken out yet, so she didn't have to hurry over. And she knew timing was everything. She couldn't afford to attack at the wrong time. She was too smart for that.

Shuva stopped, and looked behind her. "Good luck." She whispered, and turned full attention to Rex and Littlefoot.

"Why?" Littlefoot gritted his teeth. "Why would you betray us? After all we've been through?" Rex suddenly gave a cold-hearted laugh, his icy eyes gleaming. Littlefoot rose onto his hind legs, and plunged back down, the ground shaking as his heavy body smacked into the ground. "What's so darn funny!"

"You." Rex laughed, covering his mouth as though trying to supress the laughter. "Now doesn't this all seem so familiar, dear Littlefoot?" He sneered, fingering on his ridiculously long fangs. Littlefoot's eyes widen. "Isn't this exactly what Cera thought when I allegedly attacked her, hmm?" Littlefoot backed away, eyes narrowed to slits. Rex opened up his wings, exposing all the grisley tears in the wing membrane. "Same thing happening here...except this time..." He hunched forward and extended out his hands, moving his claws threateningly. "...I really am a 'traitor'..."

Suddenly he charged forward, opening his mouth very wide. Littlefoot braced himself, concentrating on every movement the dracovol was making. Rex seemed to be reckless. He was just going straight without any strategizing, Littlefoot thought. Any experienced sharptooth knows you can't just charge into prey head on. You need a strategy, a plan. But Rex had just charged forward without even thinking, and this was his first mistake. Littlefoot turned to the side, and whacked Rex with his long whiplike tail. The dracovol cried in surprise as the tail smacked him into the cold Earth beneath his feet, and he scrambled across the floor. He looked up at the longneck, and hissed. He opened up his wings, and took the skies.

Littlefoot gulped, eyes wide with fear. He didn't forget about Rex's flying ability. But seeing all those lacerations in the wing membrane, he thought that the dracovol couldn't fly anymore. But this theory was proven incorrect when the dracovol, shredded wings and all, flew 20 feet into the sky, and still rose higher. He backed up a few inches, and craned his neck up as far as he could, trying to keep the dracovol in his sights. Soon, Rex disappeared completely into the sky. Littlefoot couldn't see him anywhere. Littlefoot started shaking slightly. Rex could be right behind him, and he wouldn't know it!

As Littlefoot scanned the skies for his former best friend, behind him, the dracovol, red eye gleaming, came swooping in. He extending out both his feet and his hands, claws poised for the kill. He snarled, lips curving into a twisted smile. "You are mine." He spoke, loud enough for Littlefoot to hear him. The longneck twisted his neck around and screamed when he saw a shower of claws heading straight for him! Thinking fast, he dropped himself to the ground at the last second, winced as he felt the tips of the claws leave small cuts along his back and neck. Rex flew back into the skies, slowly turned around, and dove for Littlefoot again. Only about a second later, Rex opened up his jaws once more, but this time they weren't poised for a bite. Littlefoot's eyes widened in sheer horror as a fiery glow illuminated Rex's mouth, and in a blink of an eye, a fireball was hurdled down towards the young longneck!

Littlefoot's pupils shined with the bright lights of the fire as his eyes widened in fear, watching the flames getting closer and closer. He knew he coudln't dodge this, not fast enough anyway. Being a large sauropod, he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to escape the red hot flames of the fireball, and all it would take to have himself burned alive is just a little fire touching his highly flammable skin.

Rex watched, smiling coldly as the flames drew closer to the longneck he once called a friend. "This is the end, amigo!" He shouted a few seconds before the fireball would smack into Littlefoot's face and burn him.

Shuva couldn't take it anymore! She stopped walking and started sprinting at incredible speeds towards the longneck. "My kind failed to protect you leaf-eaters before." She cried as she closed in on the young longneck. "But not this time..."

With that, the green alimon leapt into the air, her front paws facing foward. Rex narrowed his eyes in anger as the powerful alimon knocked Littlefoot aside, and the flames that shot forward barely missed the tip of the alimon's long tail. The two crashed into the ground, and Shuva was sprawled across Littlefoot's wide ribcage. It took them a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. Littlefoot opened his eyes and craned his neck to see a longneck-like sharptooth laying on him. Before he could say anything, Shuva looked over towards him, her red eyes boring into his.

"Are you all right?"

* * *

Loc growled angrily at himself. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let the little spy get away? Gorjak had him fooled. Gorjak was a master at masking his true intentions. The red horned sharptooth walked alone towards the path where the other sharpteeth were hiding. At least the ones that survived, that is. There were still a whole lot of them. Loc picked up a familiar scent, and recognized a few raptors, including Blueye, Red, Sylvia and Jade. Only Sandstorm had left them. Red had convinced the other velociraptors not to leave, and to continue to fight. Loc couldn't help but smile.

"It is only a minor setback." He told himself. "We are still a huge army."

Loc then got flashbacks of Gorjak again. He snarled angrily as his brain replayed the scene where the flyer had tricked the bellydragger and sharpbeak into a trap. He shook his head. He didn't know if Dil or Ichy survived, and he didn't really care that much either. He wasn't exactly good friends with them. He figured that if they were alive, they'd come crawling back, and for falling into another trap, Loc noted that Chomper may not be easy on them this time around...

* * *

Back inside the cave, Ali watched as Yu and Sandstorm starting bickering at each other. She couldn't hear too much of what was going on. She was further away than Ducky and Spike were. She was still a bit fearful of the green velociraptor. Then again, she was still afraid of Sandstorm as well. The old sharptooth hadn't fully recovered, and she feared the day that he would.

Suddenly she felt pressure building up inside her, and she couldn't surprise it. She moaned loudly, her back legs feeling weak. She knew it was time. "The egg...it's coming."


	41. Deadly Like The Dark

Part IV: The Betrayal

Littlefoot looked flabbergasted. He had a 12 foot long carnivore on his back, in a spot he couldn't reach. She could easily bite into him, and tear out his skin, and she was asking him if he was all right? He couldn't get a real good look at her, no matter how far he pulled his neck back. Shuva jumped off of him, and walked into view. She stared up at the longneck. Even though he wasn't fully grown, Littlefoot was easily twice her size. The longneck stared down at the alimon, and realized what she was. "You're...an alimon?" He whispered, his eyes widening with surprise.

The small creature smiled softly, despite the situation that they were in. "Yes...yes I am." She admitted, with a hint of guilt in her voice. "Sorry I'm so late."

"Late? Late!" Littlefoot shouted. "You're far from a little late! Do you know how much suffering I had to go through before you finally decided to show!" Shuva winced, and backed away. "And when you alimons finally decide to help, only you come!" He bared his teeth. "You just wanted us to suffer! Didn't you? Didn't you! You just wanted to wait until the worst of times to finally decide to help!"

Shuva let out a soft whimper, knowing the apatosaurus spoke the truth. Well it wasn't all true anyway. She remembered she was an alimon. Her whimper turned into a growl. She didn't need to take this from anyone, especially not some plant-eater she could easily have for lunch!

Her tail raising up straight into the air and her lips pulled back enough to reveal her gums lined with long sharp teeth, she shouted, "What makes you think that! We made a deal with the valley! We protected it for years, you stupid longneck!" She reared up on her hind legs to make her appear larger than she really was. "Chomper put a spell on us! He made it so we couldn't be aware of what was happening! Magic blinded us!"

Littlefoot backed away, some of his anger melting into shock. "Magic...? So...he was right... Magic does exist..." He looked at the alimon, his eyes still slightly narrowed. "But if he put a spell on your kind, why are you not in its grasp?" He asked in an accusatory tone of voice.

"Gorjak. He found a counterspell. Only enough for one. He chose me. My name is Shuva." She lowered herself to the ground, feeling her own hostility fading away, her heart rate returning to normal.

"Excuse me!" Rex yelled. "What in the world do you think you are doing, alimon!" He lowered himself to the ground, his clawed feet digging into the earth. Rex folded his wings against his side, and pointed a clawed finger at the new dinosaur. "You aren't supposed to know about this!" His tongue snaked across one of his long fangs. "How can you possibly..." Suddenly the alimon sprang forward, colliding with the dragon and forcing him onto his back.

"I'd like to ask you the same thing!" She pressed her snout against his. "You were his friend! I saw you when you were younger! I saw you playing together! You saved his life from that velociraptor!" Littlefoot and Rex's eyes both were open in shock and astonisment. "Why would you betray him!"

Rex couldn't comprehend how this alimon could've known about his previous friendship with Littlefoot, or how she knew about Zill, the velociraptor whom he had killed years ago. He smiled as the memory flooded back. It was the first kill he ever made, and he loved every minute of it. He loved Zill's expression as he tore into him. He loved Bull's reaction when he ripped out the internal organs of Zill. He loved Zill's expression after he was dead, that horror-stricken look. He grinned. "Like I told him before, I'm just working for a bigger team now."

He spread his wings wide. "Perhaps I should make you both suffer the same fate I gave to Zill." He knocked off Shuva with one of his paws, and pulled himself off the ground. He launched himself into the sky, hoping to divebomb one of them, and rip out their flesh with his enormous teeth. But his plan backfired. Shuva jumped up and sank her teeth into one of Rex's wings. Pain flowed through Rex's body as the immensly sharp teeth began to tear his wing membrane. He used his long tail to whip her in the eye, the only vulnerable spot on Shuva that he could see.

Shuva shrieked, releasing her grip on the dracovol's wing. She crashed into the ground, onto her back. Quickly, despite the bleeding coming from his torn wing, the dracovol dove down, his claws extended far enough to cut into the alimon's skin. Littlefoot rushed forward as fast as he could, and used his head to slam into the dragon-possessed dinosaur's stomach, knocking him offbalance and hurtling away from the crashed alimon.

Rex quickly righted himself up, and landed back on the ground. "So you both have fight in you." He said, his red eye glistening with interest. "So this won't be a dull fight after all..." He lunged forward again, letting out a loud roar, and Shuva and Littlefoot could both see the flames raging forward, getting ready to be spat out and burn them alive.

* * *

Loc walked inside the cave where the other sharpteeth were hiding out. Some of the sharpteeth were hanging out outside. They hadn't seen any signs of plant-eaters, and since they were in such a remote part of the valley, why would they need to hide? Blueye was the first to notice Loc, and she ran to greet him.

"Loc, good to see you are still alive." She addressed, bobbing her head up and down. Loc hadn't suffered any bad injuries as far as she could tell. She was beginning to worry about Chomper. She hadn't seen him for a while. What could he be doing right now?

"At least a good lot of us lived." He said softly. "We can still counterattack. They are weak. They are few."

"Say, Loc, you haven't by any chance seen General Chomper, have you?" The pale yellow raptor tilted her head. "I haven't seen him for a while."

The red sharptooth smirked. "He's out somewhere. He's putting another plan in motion. Don't worry about him."

Just then another sharptooth approached. Loc turned his head to see Red approaching them. The dark crimson raptor looked angry about something. "I just recieved news that the traitorous Sandstorm survived our brutal assault." Loc narrowed his eyes, but not in anger, but in confusion. "I thought for sure we finished him off! We should've been more thorough... If he is with those plant-eaters, then they have inside information, OUR inside information."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Loc spoke with a malice tone close to that of Chomper's. "He's an old veteran. He'll be gone before you know it."

* * *

"YOU WERE A SPY!" Chomper roared furiously as he tried to snag the flyer from the sky with his jaws. Gorjak just flew up higher, almost laughing as the horned sharptooth tried to swat him with his hand claws. "WASN'T ANYONE THERE ACTUALLY THERE TO LEARN!"

Gorjak narrowed his eyes. "I learned plenty. I learned that what you and your sick father were and are doing is against the laws of nature! I learned of what you do to innocent dinosaurs that you capture!" He landed up in the nearest tree. "I learned how to fake my own cruelty to blend in with your kind. I learned I had to do something to save this valley. I didn't like doing the things I did, but it was well worth it. I fooled you. Oh I fooled you all." He couldn't help but deliver a good laugh at that.

Chomper growled and headbutted the tree, causing it to shake. Gorjak said, "Whoa...whoa...whoa..." He took flight just before the tree was ripped from its roots and fell to the forest floor.

* * *

"Ali, calm down. Let it come out slowly." Ducky said, her voice soothing to Ali's mind as she struggled to get this egg-laying thing business underway. Ducky stroked Ali's head, trying to calm her mind as the agonizing pain of egg-laying filled her mind. The female longneck's face was stained with tears.

Yu and Sandstorm stood close by, but apart from each other. They watched and waited for the new life to come out. Once the egg would come out, they knew they'd have to protect this cave even better than before. The young dinosaur inside would be vulnerable for a long time, and it's even more vulnerable inside the egg. They listened to Ali's groans, whines, and whimpers as she struggled with the pain and the pressure.

Doc also stood close. He knew nothing of what to do. All he could do was stare sympathetically at Ali's tear-stained face. "Hang in tough there, kid." He spoke softly, his eyes softening with worry.

Finally the female longneck gave out a huge sigh of relief. "It's out." She turned her neck to see the newly laid egg. It lay nestled in the small nest Ducky had made to help keep it warm. The egg was pure white, just like Littlefoot's own egg was, except for a couple spots on one side of it. Ali didn't think much of it, but Sandstorm's eyes widened a little. The spots meant something. Unbenownst to the new mother Ali, the spots were a warning...

"So...it's finally coming to pass." He murmured sadly.


	42. Treading down a Dangerous Path

Part V: The Curse

A few hours later, almost everyone in the cave was sleeping. They all felt very tired, especially Ali. After delivering an egg, she was all worn out, and she lay down, slightly curled, beside the nest that held her precious egg. The spotted shell was leaning to one side, and the spots had a slight glow to them. The only one who remained awake was Sandstorm. The old raptor cautiously approached the egg, and lowered his snout. He pressed his nose against it, feeling the cool shell against his sensitive skin. It was smooth, not bumpy, but when he nuzzled the spotted side, it appears that the spots were raised.

He lifted up his head, his light red eyes narrowed with concern and worry. This wasn't any ordinary longneck egg, that was for sure. When he was young, he stole many longneck eggs, and none of them felt or looked quite like this. He sniffed a few times. It even smelled different. The smell of a longneck egg should be a little sweet with a tinge of earthy scent, but this...this smelled more like a recently made kill. Ali would not have noticed this. Longnecks don't have good sense of smell, and neither did duckbills. He frowned. What was he going to do? He couldn't just tell Ali that she should get rid of her first egg, but if he didn't, whatever was hiding in the egg...it could be a threat to them all.

He lowered his head down again, and ran his long curved claws against the egg's shell. It was tough, but if he applied enough pressure he could crack it. He decided not to. What would the others think if they woke up and discover the egg is cracked? With his hands scented with the egg's yolk, no doubt Yu would notice it was him who did it. Reluctantly, he moved away from the egg. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. He kept thinking of one reason why the egg was probably spotted. But he wasn't sure if that could be possible. The creature was mythical! Then again, so were the flame-breaths, and yet he somehow felt the heat of dragon fire, even from far away. So if the dragon existed, so could this creature.

Sandstorm thought about it. This could be the work of Chomper. He could've done something to Ali to impregnant her with a monster. He stared long and hard at the spotted egg, getting more and more tense, and wanting more and more to smash it. Then he thought he saw the egg move. Startled he backed away, only to bump into someone. Whirling around, he faced the person he backed up into.

"Yu!" Sandstorm cried, surprised. He lifted his tail high. "What are you doing up?"

Yu climbed to his feet and wiped off the dust off his sides. "Funny, I could ask you the same thing, Officer..." He spat, voice tinged with anger. "Just what were you thinking of doing with Ali's egg?"

Sandstorm shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking..."

"...have how to eat it?" Yu finished for him, a dark smirk on his face.

Sandstorm growled. "Of course not! It's just that..." His voice faded away, and he closed his eyes.

Yu rolled his eyes. "Just that what, huh?" He crossed his arms, waiting for an explaination.

"I'm not sure why you would want to know, Yu." Sandstorm hissed angrily. "You are one of Chomper's top young soldiers. Why would you even think of showing your face here?" He advanced forward. "What is your plan, Yu? To decieve this young ones and attack while they are sleeping? Is that why you were awake just now! Were you going to attack them!" He said in an accusing voice, pointing a finger at the green velociraptor.

Yu's eyes widened, and his lips curled back in anger. "What the heck are you talking about, you stupid veteran!" He screeched, raising up his claws threateningly. "Didn't you know! I was a spy!" He advanced forward as well. "I broke into Chomper's ranks in order to gain his trust! I was getting information! Chomper found out I was a spy and went after me! I escaped! If I betrayed him, why in the world you think I would ever ever EVER consider attacking these dinosaurs!" He was so close now that Sandstorm could feel the younger raptor's breath against his face. "These leaf-eaters happen to be my friends!"

Sandstorm backed away in surprise. But Yu wasn't done just yet. The blue-striped sickleclaw grabbed the old veteran by his arm. "You were with Chomper a lot longer than I was, old one! You are among his most trusted sickleclaw pack! You were one of the most loyal of them all, and probably still are! You are the one who is a threat here, not me! I don't know why these guys are letting you stay!" He bared his teeth. "You would just kill us all when we slept! You were going to steal Ali's egg and smash it open! You were going to kill Spike if Ducky wasn't there!"

Sandstorm felt his heart beating faster as anger swept through his body. He grabbed the young raptor's arm and threw him hard into the ground. Yu looked up in surprise and fear as Sandstorm pinned him to the ground. "Don't ever say things like that unless you have evidence, stupid kid!" Now it was his turn to bare his own sharp teeth. "I admit I was part of the pack, but things changed! I knew where this war was going! I knew many innocent lives would've been lost if we didn't leave the war! I tried to convince the others, but Red convinced them that I was a traitor! They attacked me, nearly ripped me apart! They abandoned me, left me to die!" He narrowed his eyes. "If it weren't for these leaf-eaters spotting me and helping me out, I would have died! Do you really think I would turn against the ones who saved me!"

Yu opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it. He was at a loss of words. A sense of guilt began building in his heart. The old raptor's expression softened quickly, and he got up off the younger raptor. He looked down at the young velociraptor as he struggled to his feet and regain his balance. Yu then managed to say, "I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

Now it was Sandstorm's turn to feel guilty. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't know you were a spy." He then offered a small grin. "Must've been fun, deceiving Chomper like that."

Yu managed a weak smile as he rubbed his sore arm. "Y-Yeah fun..." He turned his head towards the egg in the nest next to Ali. "So if you weren't going to eat it...why were you staring at it for so long? Does it have a strange smell or something."

Sandstorm nodded. "Yes, it does not smell like any egg I've ever encountered before."

Curious, Yu walked cautiously towards the egg, and pressed his nose against it. He breathed in deeply, and almost immediately, he coughed and packed away quickly. "Whoa! You're right! That smells like a kill, not a baby longneck's egg!" He rubbed his nose, trying to get rid of the scent. He then turned his head to face the old sickleclaw officer. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know." He said solemnly. "But whatever it is, it can't be good." He stared at the egg, a frown returning to his face. "Whatever hatches out of that egg...may end up destroying us all!"

The two raptors turned their backs to the egg, unable to look at it anymore. They decided to walk to the other side of the cave and sleep there. As they left, Ali, still asleep, twitched her tail, and it gently hit the egg lightly. The egg rattled back and forth silently, and then it slowly stopped. It stood there for several minutes, and then, on its own, the egg shifted to one side, almost as if it was trying to look at its mother. Then, without warning, two circles of red light glowed near the top of the egg, and narrowed slightly, as if it were angry. And from within the egg, a low hissing sound, sounding like a cross between a rattle snake and a bird, came through...

* * *

In another part, Zera, the two crested swimmer opened her eyes in fear. She wasn't able to sleep and so decided to see how things were going. She was terrified as she spoke to herself. "No. Not this. Please not this."


	43. Unknow Side

Part V: The Curse

General Chomper came to a stop, and fell to his knees. He had been chasing Gorjak for what seemed like hours now. It was clear that there was no way he'd be able to catch up with him. Gorjak was a flyer, and he was not. The second spy was already seemingly disappearing into the skies, and Chomper growled visibly, showing his frustration and anger. "He could be the reason why..." He didn't want to say anything further. He turned around and started heading back, remembering he had to make sure Rex did his work.

Rex... the thought of that dinosaur coming to his mind soothed the raging beast. Chomper didn't know why, but Rex just seemed to have what it takes to calm him down and make him feel happy. The sharptooth thought of spending a little time alone with the dracovol after his succession of wiping out Littlefoot, sort of a victory party for two type of deal. He closed his eyes and smiled deeply with the thought.

Unfortunately he wasn't looking where he was going and quickly found himself slamming into a tree, nearly knocking it down. He cried out in pain, and rubbed his sore snout the best he could with his short arms, but in this, he tripped in a root in the ground and fall, knoking his head in a rock, as light danced in front of his face he could hear a sweet voice singing in his mind in the verge of conciousness.

_Rush now... Be still and don't cry... Rocked by the stream_

_Sleep... Last lullaby... with you when you dream  
_

_River... Flow gently... Precious cargo...  
_

_Do you know... Live in peace... Deliver... There  
_

Chomper quickly recovered from this and got to his feet again. The song... It seemed like a dream half forgotten that he had once, but still it was very fresh in his mind. He remebered of having heard this same song one time when he lost conciousness when the ones who created him died. he tough that it could mean something, but quickly dismissed this tough.

He was a terrible warlord now! Only childs and foll gave that importance to things like dreams and songs. And with that he walked away. Never noticing that ghostly sharptooth that looked at him with sorowfull eyes.

* * *

As Rex spewed out another fireball, the alimon dodged quickly, barely escaping its fiery hot touch. Littlefoot was not as lucky, as he felt some of the flames strike him in the shoulder. Littlefoot screamed with all his might as the flames licked against his scales, burning them upon contact. When the fire died down, only a few seconds later, an entire section of his neck and shoulder had scales that were charred badly, a few flaking off. The stench of burnt food wavered in the air, tempting Rex as he sniffed the burning scales from where he was standing.

Littlefoot tried to walk, but the fire had did damage not only to his scales, but to some of his muscle. He could feel steaming hot pain in his shoulder muscles as he flexed them to move his leg. He tried taking another step, but the pain from one shot of the fireball proved too much for the teenaged longneck, and he collapsed on the ground, weakened. Tears flowed from his eyes as memories of him seeing his adopted brother, laying on the ground dying, came back to him. And he knew that it would soon be his turn, as he watched Rex slowly advance towards him, clawed hands raised in the air.

"How could you...do this...?" He pleaded, and closed his eyes as the pain in his shoulder overwhelmed him. "How could do this...to your...best friend...?" His mind was starting to become clouded with the intense pain. "And after...all we've been through...after...Bull..." His brain couldn't take any more pain any longer, and Littlefoot felt his mind shut down, and his eyes closed.

Rex stopped in his tracks. "Bull..." He said in a harsh whisper. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open, almost as if in shock. Before Shuva could tackle him, she is thrown back when a burst of light surrounded Rex for a brief second. She screamed and covered her sensitive eyes.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" She screamed as she watched the illuminating light show. After it was over, Rex collapsed on the floor, breathing normally, but his expression troubled. He was still in his dragon/dinosaur half form. She didn't have time to analyse him. She would have to carry Littlefoot back to safety. She didn't know just where he had come from. She couldn't risk taking him back to his friends. He would have to come with her.

Shuva walked over to the unconscious longneck, and grabbed a hold of his long tail. She started to pull. Despite size differences, the alimon managed to drag Littlefoot quite easily across the floor. She hoped that all this dragging wasn't making his wound any worse that it already was. She would have to take him back where the remaining part of her pack was waiting for her. This would mean dragging him UP the mountain chain that surrounded the valley until they reached the right cave. She was worried Littlefoot wouldn't make it. The wound is small compared to what it could have been, but severe damage was already done. If infection set in, the longneck could die.

"I must hurry..." She thought, straining to pull the tremendous animal. "I must hurry..."

As she left, Rex squeezed his eyes shut, and whimpered slightly. "No...you're not me..." He tossed and turned in his sleep, his hands and feet twitching and his body shaking involuntarily, clear signs he was having a nightmare. But for Rex, this was more than a nightmare...it was his life.

* * *

"What do you mean...?" Ali asked, whimpering silently as Yu and Sandstorm told her the story. She was nestled next to her egg. She couldn't detect anything wrong with it. She thought the spots were there because her child would be unique, but was it really going to be THAT unique? She stared longingly and hauntingly at her egg, a few tears escaping her eyelids.

"What I mean is," Sandstorm said, his head bowed with sadness. "..that egg, I feel, will only bring us misery if it hatches. It's not a natural egg, Ali. It does not have the scent of a longneck."

"He's right." Yu nodded, stepping up. "There's something seriously wrong with that egg. But we don't know yet just what. Sandstorm and I suspect that something, another than a longneck, is residing inside, and it's nothing but trouble!"

Petrie rolled his eyes. "Me thinks you two just crazy! Maybe you had nightmares and think this is real." He suggested, looking upwards as he thinks about his opinions on this situation. He was nearly taken by surprise when Yu snapped at him. "Watch it!" Petrie growled angrily.

"Sorry, Petrie." Yu said almost sarcastically. "But this is no dream!"

"Then what you suggest we do?" Petrie asked slowly, his eyes proving he was still disbelieving.

"We destroy the egg." Sandstorm said, his eyes narrowed with seriousness.

* * *

"WHAT!" A voice boomed through the caverns of a cave hidden deep in the valley mountain chains. It was nowhere near where Shuva was heading. Four-legged figures, all hidden in the darkness, were gathered in a circle near the entrance. The one who spoke seemed to stand near 8 ft tall and his teeth seemed to glow in the light from outside. The other figures seemed to be cringing from his loud voice.

One of the figures raised his head up. "With all due respect sir...we didn't know something like this would..."

"SILENCE!" The lead figure slammed his paw into the ground, so hard that it created a crater in the shape of a paw. "I will have none of your excuses! I want results!" He turned to look outside the cave, and glared longingly at the valley below him. He could feel his mouth water as he imagined all those dinosaurs down there. "I wanted a plan that would work, a plan that was flawless.." He turned around, his gleaming red eyes boring through his followers. "..but you sorry group, nothing but failure!"

"But we managed to start the..." He was stopped short when the lead figure swatted him down.

"I don't care! I want perfection!" He screamed hatefully. The figure cringed and slinked away and sat down beside the other followers. Then, another figure, about the same size as the leader, walked bravely towards him, showing no visible signs of fear.

"Sir, I got word that our little 'package' arrived among the plant eaters." Light shining in revealed the figure was grinning, his razor sharp teeth exposed.

"Then let the show begin..." The lead figure grinned, and from within the cave, there was a faint orange glow. Only Gorjak saw it. As the light died down, he could only stare in awe.

"What was that...?" He asked himself as he perched on a tree he just came across. "An orange light...?" His eyes then widened in fear. "Oh no...this could only be the work of the rogue pack, the Darkarians..." He whispered, and as he did so, the haunting howl of a mysterious and deadly predator filled the still air.


	44. Tunnels

Part V: The Curse

"What! Destroy my egg!" Ali rose to her feet, looking rather furious. She glared at the raptor standing before her. She placed a protective leg in front of the egg. "What gives you the right!"

Sandstorm's light red eyes looked into her blue eyes. "It's for the good of the valley, maybe even the whole world, Ali." He lowered his gaze, almost as if ashamed. "I'm not happy about it either, but it's the only way." He looked at the egg, eyes blazed with suspicion and anger. "But it's just far too dangerous to let that egg hatch and let out who knows what from it."

The female longneck continued to glare at him. Maternal instinct was clouding her judgement. Despite knowing the danger, she refused to let her egg be destroyed until it was hatching day. She would protect the egg for the next few weeks, as it usually takes for the embryo to fully develop and emerge into the outside world. She wasn't about to let some sharptooth destroy her own egg just because he thinks it's cursed! "I don't care what you say." She stepped forward, pushing her face up against the small sharptooth. "I am not letting you destroy that egg!"

"Ali!" Sandstorm said quickly. "Be reasonable!"

"No, YOU be reasonable!" Ali growled. "There's probably just some innocent little baby in there! I'm not going to let it be destroyed by a superstition old coot like you!"

"Ali!" This time it came from Yu. "Listen to him! We can't have that egg around here! We must dispose of it!"

"NO!" Ali roared, settled down protectively in front of the egg. "Littlefoot and I made this egg together, and I plan seeing it hatch! I want to see the baby longneck inside!" She gently nuzzled the egg, feeling the smoothness of its shell against her scaly face. When Yu and Sandstorm took a step closer, they were taken aback by Ali snapping at them swiftly, and returning to her egg. The two raptors were dumbfounded, staring at each other, as if asking 'what are we going to do now?'

"See? Told you there be nothing to worry about." Petrie said, smiling almost slyly. "If Ali no worry, we should no worry neither."

"That's either, you dolt..." Sandstorm murmured under his breath, glaring at the plant-eating flyer. "And I'm telling you, we do have something to worry about." He eyed the egg again before looking back at Petrie. "That egg...something is indeed wrong with it. It's just not normal..."

"You sharpteeth have better sense of smell than we do." Petrie explained. "Perhaps you just picking up scents we can't." He shrugged his shoulders, smiling, as if he knew this was the truth.

Ducky nodded in agreement, laying next to her still recovering brother. "There's no need to worry then. Ali's right. You are getting worked up over nothing, yep yep yep." She smiled as she finished her trademark yep yep yep. She stroked her brother's head as his eyes opened up. He lifted up his head and looked at Sandstorm and Yu, eyes barely focused.

"Messa think you right..." He took in a breath shakingly. "Maybe dat egg something wrong."

Ducky looked at her brother, surprised. "You believe them, Spike?" Her brother gave a nod. "But why?" She tilted her head. "Why do you think they are right about the egg being evil?"

"B-Because..messa can smell something no right about egg, too."

* * *

"Okay, we're almost there." Shuva said, smiling with confidence. She continued dragging the longneck closer and closer to her pack's home cave tunnel network. He would be save in there, and the new cave tunnels were large enough for him to fit inside and walk around with no problems. She forgotten why they decided to make the tunnels bigger. Maybe it was to allow more alimons to live there. After all there has been a population boost in the past few years.

As soon as she got to the entrance, she nudged her head against the longneck's face, an attempt to awaken him. "Come on, get up." She whispered softly. The longneck didn't respond right away. Frustrated, Shuva pushed on his head harder, causing his head to hit the ground a little hard after Shuva moved her muzzle away.

"Ow!" Littlefoot muttered, awaking slowly, his eyes blinking in the darkness. "Shuva?" He shook his head groggily. "W-Where are we?" He lifted up his neck to take a better look, but immediately cried out in pain.

"Try to take it easy, young longneck." Shuva said soothingly. "I must take you inside for your treatment. That is a nasty burn you have on your neck."

Littlefoot struggled to his feet, careful not to inflict any more pain to his already incredibly sensitive burn spots. As Shuva led him inside the cave, it almost instantly brought back memories. When he was younger, he recalled exploring these caves. "Just like the old days." He thought to himself as Shuva led him down into a deeper part of the cave. He had to bend his neck down when the height of the cave suddenly dropped to about half it was before. Shuva could handle it no problem, but Littlefoot had a feeling his neck muscles were going to be sore in the morning if he stays down here too long.

When the tunnel finally ended, the roof dramatically rose back up to where it was before, much to the relief of the young longneck, who raised his head back up to where he's used to it being. He took a look around. This place was massive! It was much larger than he had remembered it. Then again he's never been to this part of the caves before. There were several holes in the cave walls, black as emptiness.

Shuva stepped up on a platform that was in front of them. She turned to Littlefoot and gestured for him to sit down. As he did so, the alimon sucked in as much breath as she could, and she let out a huge, loud howling sound.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRROO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The howl echoed throughout the cave, bouncing inside the tunnels, sending its message to other parts of the cave. The echoing continued for several minutes, and Littlefoot was shaking his head from the intensity of the sound that just came from the small Shuva.

No sooner had she done this, the tunnels stirred to life. Several alimons began emerging out of them. Some looked a bit annoyed, others looked curious. Some looked groggy, others looked very much alert. Some were small, and some were large. Some were young, and some were old. They all came gathering in the large opening that Littlefoot was now residing in. Every alimons' eyes were set on him and Shuva.

And, emerging last, was the lead alimon. The others departing, making a path for him. They bowed their heads in respect for him. The alimon came up to Shuva. He was middle-aged at least. His eyes were surrounded in rings of brown, the same color as his paws and tip of his tail. His entire body was dark blue. He smiled, but his yellow eyes still head the look of seriousness. "Welcome back, Shuva."

The female alimon bowed her head to her leader. "I am happy to be back, Siria."


	45. Resistance and Flashbacks

(A/N: Please note that the first part of the chapter with Rex takes place in the dinosaur's mind.)

Part V: The Curse

Rex, the real Rex, awoke to find himself inside a large cave with a few holes. There was some light, but for the most part, the whole area was nearly pitch black. Rex had good vision, but he still had some trouble seeing at night. He squinted, trying to determine the size and shape of any obstacles that were in his way. But when he tried to walk forward, he found that his arms and legs would not move. Try as he might, they would not budge. They were stuck to the wall itself. "What is going on here?" He cried out, panicking. "Why can't I move?"

"Well well well...isn't it obvious?" Answered a cold, strange and yet familiar voice. "Your arms and legs are strapped to the wall, my boy." He held out a hand, which was just a shadow with tiny white dots to Rex's eyes. "Here, take a look for yourself." With a wave of the hand, a single flame was born, floating just above the creature's palm. The fire was small but bright enough to light up the cave enough for Rex to not only see the vines binding him, but see the faint glimmer of his captor's face.

"You! But it's not possible!" He struggled against his binds. "You can't be real!"

The figure stepped closer. The single red eye glowed as the creature laughed cold-heartedly. "But of course I'm real. Remember...I'm you."

"You are not me! You will never be me!" Rex shouted in protest. Dark Rex came forward, and cupped the seemingly younger dinosaur's chin. Rex tried to look at him defiently in the eyes, but those eyes...he just couldn't bare keeping eye contact with him, and kept turning his head away, trying to shake free of the grasp.

"Oh, I'm sorry...am I scaring you?" Dark Rex asked tauntingly. "I am in control of you now. You know what the best part is, my boy?"

Rex looked at him, a little curious.

"After all this is over, they will blame you." He pointed a finger at Rex. "After all, who am I but you yourself?"

"Well if you are me, they'll blame you!" Rex yelled. "You have the appearance of the attacker, not me!" Rex didn't think that made much sense, but he wasn't thinking clearly.

Dark Rex laughed at his comment. "Oh you really think so, do you?" He grinned. "They don't see me as an individual, Rex. They only see me as an extention, a part of you that you let loose onto this world. As far as they are concerned, you are the true mastermind behind all this flamebreath stuff."

Rex's eyes widened, and they slowly closed. He hung his head, and sighed. He knew Dark Rex was right about all that. After this was over, Dark Rex would disappear as if he never existed, and there would be no way for Rex to prove his innocense. Even Littlefoot would think twice before trusting him again, after he-no, after how Dark Rex almost killed Littlefoot today.

Dark Rex leaned in closer, and put his hand on Rex's head. The dracovol looked up, still a glint of defience in them. "As long as you are tied there, your body is mine to control."

Rex bared his sharp teeth. "Then I will have to fight for control..."

* * *

"What took you so long?" The chief alimon asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. He wasn't angry, but he was concerned. "We thought you were caught in a rockslide or something."

Shuva chuckled, though the lead alimon saw no humor in it. "I was busy saving the life of this longneck." She gestured her head towards Littlefoot. "He was being attacked by a flamebreath."

Upon this word, there was a murmur and stirring among the pack. Even the chief alimon was speechless. Finally, someone from the group said, "No that can't be right. If there was a flamebreath, we would know about it."

"Not unless a spell was put on you." Littlefoot said, causing all alimons to turn their heads to him. Littlefoot immediately regretted speaking up, and bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry." Shuva said, serious. "He's right. A spell has been put upon us. I was fortunate to have a flyer find a counterspell for me."

The chief alimon cocked an eyegrow in suspicion. "Oh really? And if you are right...what has been going on that we are apparently unaware of?"

Shuva responded, "Sharpteeth have invaded the valley and have taken the lives of many dinosaurs!"

A murmur spread throughout the whole alimon pack. But as they continued discussing things, Littlefoot let his mind wander as he looked around the caves and tunnels. His mind was flooded with memories. He has been here before, he knows it. He remembers this very room...of course it was a lot scarier when he was a kid. He continued staring into space as the alimons discussed their plans.

He recalled how he and his friends had heard noises coming from this cave. Despite their parents' warnings, they went into the cave tunnels anyway. They came into here where they were suddenly surrounded by a pack of vicious and malicious alimons. The alimons taunted them, teased them, walked around them like a shark ready to strike. Littlefoot recalled how he and his friends barely escaped, and how he almost had his throat torn out, but was saved by Cera.

He sighed. 'At least things aren't as bad as they were back then.' He watched as the alimons debated on the situation.

He then had another memory. Not long after they escaped the first group of alimons, there was yet another. And they apparently belonged to the same pack that attacked them originally. He could tell because they were baring their teeth at them. Cera wanted to attack, but Littlefoot had convinced her to run instead. While they argued, one alimon charged forward and almost got them. The kids realized what was going on at the last second and dodged out of the way. The alimon only left claw marks in the wall they were standing next to.

The alimons chased them down the tunnels, until the alimons heard something and run off. Littlefoot and his friends didn't know why they left, until they looked around and saw him.

Donovan.

Littlefoot was snapped back from his trance when Shuva nudged him in the shoulder. "Huh? What?" He looked at Shuva. "Oh hello."

"Where were you?" She asked, smiling slightly.

"Thinking." He yawned. "So what's going on?"

"Dynamo, the chief, has decided to try and find a counterspell so that we alimons can help fight off the sharptooth horde." She said this dutifully.

Littlefoot smiled. "Thank you."


	46. Escape Fortress Valley

Part V: The Curse

Back at Fortress Valley, all seemed lifeless. The tall grass swayed in the wind as it gently brushed it with its mighty breath. The mountains seemed to whistle as wind swirled around it. Leaves that had fallen danced in the whirling air, and came to settle on the soft Earth. If someone wasn't well informed of the valley's secrets, it would be paradise. Suddenly, the silence and beauty of the valley was shattered when a flying sharptooth sailed overhead, cawing loudly as it circled high above Fortress Valley. It was brown in color, a light green on its underbelly and color, and its beak the color of the sun itself. It was a male, and his name was Nopsid.

Nopsid quicky too roost on top of one of the dangerously pointed mountains surrounding the grassland and woodland. He was one of the few sharpteeth who stayed behind to keep an eye on the place. Chomper didn't want to leave the captives unguarded for fear they might run off. Nopsid sailed the skies about every twenty minutes or so and kept an constant look out for runaways.

Down below, behind Nopsid's keen eyesight, two figures, bent low to the ground, slowly walked across a series of shadows. Their eyes were wide, even in the darkness, and their breathing was low and labored as fear gripped their hearts. The one in the front suddenly stopped, causing the other to bump into him. "Hey!" The other one, female, hissed quietly. "Don't stop so suddenly!"

"Shhh!" He hissed at her, putting his finger to his mouth to emphasize. "Do you want bird-brain up there hearing us?" He gestured towards the large flyer, who was now taking a short nap. "If we want to get out of here, we have to get past him and fast."

"But Nychus, what if he does see us before we have a chance to make it out of this prison?" She asked, voice laced with fear as she stared wide-eyed at Nopsid.

Nychus smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Syna, we'll get out of here soon enough."

As the moonlight stared to shine through the clouds, the figures lurking in the shadows lsowly came into some kind of view. Nychus, the one in the front, was an iguanadon, a spikethumb. His body was covered in blue-green scales, with a light teal underbelly, and speckled with many small black spots. His thumbclaws were long and sharp, ready to be used against an enemy. The other, Syna, was not an iguanadon as it might have sounded. She was something else entirely. As the moonlight started to shine on her, her body was covered with silver scales, and the only parts that were a different color was her underbelly, which was white, and her eyes, surrounded with white. Her eyes were blue. She was a protoceratops, a zerohorn.

Syna was fully grown. Her kind was never very big, even smaller than Hyp's kind. Nychus was much larger than Syna, but was not yet fully grown. He was only half the age of Littlefoot. The two crept along as best as they could as Nopsid continued sleeping. They knew that time was running out. Nopsid would wake up again and begin his search. The plant-eaters slowly made their way towards the entrance of the cave, knowing very well that, with most of the sharpteeth gone, the traps wouldn't work. All the traps had to be activated by groups of sharpteeth who took turns moditering the entrance so no intruders could come in.

Nychus placed his hand on the entrance of the cave. He looked down and Syna, who was slowly approaching cautiously. "Well...it's now or never..." He whispered.

"Freedom..." Syna said softly. "I almost forgotten what it felt like..."

"Huh...what's going on...?" The brown flyer stirred awake, his red eyes slowly opening.

"Oh no!" Nychus said, and shoved Syna inside the tunnel. "Quickly, in here! Let's go, now!" Syna nodded and ran as fast as she could inside the tunnel, feeling relieved as her body was bathed in darkness, which provided some protection against the sharptooth flyer in case he tried looking down here. Nychus climbed inside as well and began making his way down the tunnel. They didn't hear anything more from Nopsid except a groan and a snoring sound. They still had time to get far enough away from the valley that Nopsid wouldn't spot them, even from air.

They soon made their way towards the exit, light from the moon shining on them almost mercifully. Syna took her first breath of freedom, something she hadn't had since she was a teenager. Her body shook and her mind was boggled. Was this a dream? Could it be real? "Could we really be free? Are we free?" She whispered, not able to hold back a smile of glee.

Nychus panted as he stumbled out of the cave. "Yes, Syna, we're free. We're finally free."

Then he stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening and the color wenting away from his features. In front of him as no other that the know as the most hardcore and best fighter sharptooth in all of Fortress Valley. No other than Sylvia.

* * *

"W-W-WHAT DID WE DO!" Shouted a male squawking voice as he seemed to be struggling for his life. It was Ichy. A dark blue, red striped female troodon named Wounder had gripped his legs together and was dragging him towards General Chomper, who had recently returned. Chomper had gotten word of what happened, and was furious at Dil and Ichy's failed attempt. He had given them a second chance, and they failed. Their usefulness had ended. Ichy panicked and kept trying to fly away, but the troodon, although small, was heavy enough to deny any real flight for Ichy.

"Yeah!" Cried a female voice, growling. "We tried our best! We really did!" It was Dil. She was confused. She could barely see what was going on. She only saw darkness with some forms of shadow. She also struggled to get away. She was a lot stronger than Ichy, but not strong enough to escape the grip of one of the giant sharpteeth, slightly larger than Chomper's foster parents, who was dragging her along by her tail with his mouth. The large sharptooth was a pale green with white underbelly. His name was Reaper.

As Wounder and Reaper continued dragging Dil and Ichy closer and closer to General Chomper, the carnotaurus was standing at the end of a whole line of sharpteeth. There were many sharpteeth, both large and small, both swimming and flying. Many of them bared their teeth at the sharp-beak and bellydragger as they were being taken to their doom. A handful of sharpteeth either looked away or looked at them sympathetically.

When they reached their destination, Ichy and Dil were tossed at Chomper's feet. They screamed, and backed off. Ichy tried to fly away, but the blue horned sharptooth snatched him out of the sky and tossed him back to the ground. "You cannot escape your punishment, sharpbeak!" Chomper shouted cruelly. "Your use has ended now!"

As Chomper drew closer, all Dil and Ichy could do was wait for the jaws of death to close in around them right in front of the sharpteeth who were gathered around.

* * *

Dark Rex soared through the air high above the valley. He was heading towards the cave where Littlefoot was hiding, or so he thought. The large dragon/dinosaur hybrid perched in the highest tree. Despite his large size, he could land perfectly, and he began to search his surroundings. "Oh Littlefoot...why don't you come out and play with your old pal, Rex?" He taunted, and took off again. Once he saw the cave, he grinned.

"It's time to play..." He grinned as he slowly walked towards the cave entrance.

* * *

In a cave in the mountain walls, far away from Dynamo's cave, five figures emerged out into the moonlight. They were the same creatures from before, the one who seemed to be 8 ft tall was in the front. His eyes glared down at the valley as hatred filled his mind. He could remember what had happened here years ago, even though at the time he was only a kid. Now it was time for revenge. He grinned.

The moonlight revealed that all four figures were alimons, just like Shuva and Dynamo. The lead alimon was gray in color with a brown underside starting from his lower jaw and stretching to the tip of his tail. His eyes were red against a yellow background and his claws were light gray. His name was Gris, and he was the son of the alimon who had betrayed Donovan so many years ago.

A second alimon, standing closest to Gris, was Retaru, a red alimon with darker red stripes along his back and a white stomach that didn't stretch on his neck or tail. His claws were yellow, and his eyes were also yellow, but against white this time.

A third alimon, that was the second closest to Gris, was one of his own child: Garick. He was a ruby-red alimon with dark-grey strips running down his back and had yellow-green eyes. His teeth and claws were of a pure white and shinned at the moonlight.

A fourth alimon, furthest back, was white in color and had a few black spots and a black underside starting from his face, covering it with black, and ending between his legs. His claws were the color of blood. He was called Snowstorm. His eyes were yellow against a blue background.

The final alimon, who looked to be the smallest, was called Sumaru, was black in color with red stripes covering his body. A light blue covered his mouth, paws, eyes, and tip of his tail. His eyes were green with white background.

"Soon..." Gris spoke, grinning evilly. "Our plan will come full circle...and the Great Valley will finally be ours!" He laughed. Retaru and Snowstorm nodded with agreement, their hungry eyes settling down on the valley. Garick had a unreadible expression, almost as if he was or very sad or angry. Only Sumaru seemed to be doubtful.

"Yes, but are we sure it's going to work?" He asked, and was quickly siezed by Gris, who shook him up.

"Of course we're sure!" He hissed, and dropped Sumaru. "And when that egg hatches..." He didn't finish, but just laughed.


	47. Dragon Heart

Part V: The Curse

The group stared at Spike as the spiketail continued to speak. "N-No egg has that smell...Not even sharptooth, egg stealer eggs..." He coughed, and Ducky stroked his head, reassuring him. Spike smiled, but continued talking despite the pain. "If hatch, we may die..." He said, before collapsing back down. His breathing became labored. He still hadn't fully recovered. The wounds on him were pretty deep. Ducky looked at him worringly before turning to see Ali's expression.

Ali's expression was still dark, but a few hints of tears began rolling from her eyes. She couldn't doubt Spike's sense of smell, nor the sharpteeth's sense of smell. She knew what they were saying was true, but she still didn't want to believe it. She stared at her egg, or what she thought was her egg, and gently pushed it with her snout. She almost screamed when two red eyes glowed from within the shell. She recoiled and backed out of the nest. "What was that!" She shrieked.

Sandstorm quickly walked over to the sound of Ali's cry. He almost screamed himself when he saw the red eyes. Everyone stared at horror at the egg, now knowing for sure that this egg was out of the ordinary. Sandstorm cautiously approached, hands outstretched as if ready to deflect a blow. As he got closer, he could see a faint figure inside. He narrowed his eyes to try to get a better look. It had a beak, and feathers, but it also had...scales?

"This creature...it's nothing like I've seen before." Sandstorm admitted. "If it hatches, I won't know how to stop it..." As he spoke, the egg rocked back and forth on its own, causing Petrie to panick and fly to a further part of the cave, where he hid behind a rock and shivered. Ali couldn't keep her eyes off the egg. Her maternal instincts told her to take the egg and nuzzle it, but her brain was telling her to smash it. The egg was a threat to her very survival.

"But I know..." Said a ghostly female voice. Everyone whirled their heads around to see Doc. At first they were confused. Doc was no female longneck, that's for sure. But he smiled, and disappeared, causing everyone to scream with surprise. As the vapor that was once Doc faded away, a new one was formed. No one in the room could recognize the new longneck, who seemed to be in the prime of her life. Sandstorm knew she was a spirit, and to be that young, she must have been killed.

The female longneck was a brownish color with what looked like light ivory along the lip of her top jaw and stretched onto her chest and belly, and ended at the tip of her tail. There was a dark brown stripe starting at the tip of her snout, went along her back, and connected with her spine, and went to the tip of her tail. She lowered her head and looked into the eyes of Ali. Ali gulped and backed away. The new ghost longneck studied her for a few seconds, before lifting her head up. "You remind me of my son, Littlefoot."

Ducky was the first to speak. "You're Littlefoot's mother?" She stammered, in complete shock. The female longneck looked to her, and gave a soft smile.

"Why, yes I am." She then looked at Sandstorm. Instead of looking at him with hatred, she lowered her head so she would be eye level with the veteran. "I know what's inside that egg. You must destroy it."

Sandstorm couldn't speak for several minutes. He finally found the courage, and stammered, "W-What's inside it?"

Littlefoot's mother winced, and closed her eyes. "Stoneglare..." A stoneglare, or better known as a cockatrice, was a creature of myth and legend. It was part bird, part serpent, and could kill when it made eye contact with anyone.

Suddenly, the ghostly apparation disappeared as fire spewed through the caves, licking against the cave walls. The dinosaurs inside quickly backed away as smoke filled the caves. They coughed and wheezed until they had no choice but to get out. When they reached the outside, they continued coughing, and tried to get out of the smoke. The wind mercifully blew the smoke away, revealing a famliar and yet unfamiliar figure. Petrie perched on top of Ali's head as he stared wide-eyed at this new creature.

"A-A flamebreath...?" He stammered, looking frightened.

The flamebreath, dark blue in color, grinned. He stroked one of his enormous fangs as he started to walk closer to Ali. Ali glared at him defiently, almost daring him to attack. "Why young Ali, as defient as ever." He sneered, putting his hand on her chin. She retaliated by trying to bite him, but it resulted in a slash across her face. Ali cried out in pain as the flamebreath growled, "Try that again, and it will be your eyes next time!"

His eyes set on Petrie, who was trembling with fear. "And Petrie..why are you so afraid? Don't you recognize your old pal, Rex?" He laughed coldly.

Petrie lifted his head up, staring at the flamebreath with disbelief. "No...it can't be..."

"But it is." Yu said, jumping in front of the group. "Chomper forced Rex to betray us all." He stood his ground between the one sharptooth and leaf-eaters, and the maniacal Dark Rex. "He is no longer the Rex we knew." His voice was low as he said that as the feeling of betrayal filled his heart.

Ducky shivered. "But...how could Rex become this...?"

"Because my past life was a flamebreath!" Dark Rex shouted, spreading out his torn wings. "I have inherited the powers of a flamebreath! Behold!" He opened his mouth and shot out huge fireballs from his mouth, which the group could barely dodge. The plants nearby caught in fire, and the fire started to spread rapidly, burning any vegetation it touched. Petrie and Ducky watched in horror as part of their homeland was getting destroyed by the intense heat. Ali couldn't take it anymore and charged forward, causing Petrie to fly off her head.

Ali used her tail to knock Dark Rex down. She then pinned him down with one of her feet. She lowered her head against his, and growled. "Don't do that again, or I'll..." She couldn't finish when Dark Rex wrapped his claws around her face, closing her mouth. He then pushed her head down into the dirt, and her body followed, falling onto its side. The flamebreath then rose to his feet, and let go of the longneck's head. He then pressed his feet onto her neck, and started to press down. Ali's eyes widened as she felt her windpipe being closed.

"Or you'll what...?"

* * *

Shuva and Littlefoot walked side by side through the forest. Littlefoot's wounds had been treated enough that he was well enough to return back to the cave. One of the alimons that Littlefoot had met in the cave was coming along. This alimon was male and about the same size as Shuva. He had mentioned his name before was Spellbound, because he was good in the art of magic. He was the second alimon guardian to be free of the spell Chomper set on them. Dynamo was still working on freeing the others.

Spellbound was purple with a dark blue back starting from the tip of his snout and ending at the tip of his tail. His eyes were red against a white background, and his claws were also white. Spellbound was related to Shuva as a cousin. He walked close by Shuva and Littlefoot as they headed back towards where the cave was. Littlefoot was worried about what had happened while he was gone. Rex did a good job at luring him away. He felt stupid for believing the dracovol's lies. That was a mistake he would not make again.

"Are we almost there?" Spellbound said, groaning with impatience.

Shuva swatted him in the shoulder. "Show some patience, will ya, cousin?" She ordered. "After all, all dinosaurs didn't appear in just a day!"

Spellbound growled as he rubbed his shoulder. "I know, I know. I just don't see why we have to accompany the longneck the whole trip!"

Littlefoot ignored the alimons' bickering. He had more important things to worry about than to hear a couple of sharpteeth argue about patience and walking. He then suddenly stopped when he saw smoke rising into the sky that was dangerously close to the cave. His heart pounded and his mind panicked. "Oh no...Guys!" He shouted and broke off into a run, startling the alimons.

"Now where do you think he's..." Spellbound said, but was cut off by Shuva.

"No...fire!" She cried out, and bolted after Littlefoot.

"Oh geeze!" Spellbound said as he too saw the flames and smoke rising into the sky. He took off after Littlefoot and Shuva as they raced against time to reach the cave before the smoke destroyed the cave and those Littlefoot cared about.

'I can only hope we're not too late...' Spellbound thought as he felt his heart pounding as they raced across the forest floor.


	48. Kill or Die

(A/N Well, I planned to get Cyberlizard permission to use Mel and Lizzy in this chapter, but since I couldn't find him/her (must ave leaved fanfition) I'll use them as they appear in te original story.)

Part V: The Curse

As the horned sharptooth approached, the sharpbeak and bellydragger trembled terribly, hardly able to stand up, let alone move backwards. Despite her size, Dil was the most afraid because she couldn't see. She wouldn't know if Chomper was biting down on her until she would feel his teeth slicing into her, and then it would be too late. Ichy tried to stand his ground, although his knees were hitting eachother as his legs shook violently. "C-C-C-Come on..." Ichy started to stutter. "C-Can we a-a-a-at least another ch-ch-chance..?" His response as a terrifying, angry roar from Chomper.

"Another chance? You want me to give you another CHANCE!" Ichy and Dil paled. "I gave you chance after chance to kill them!" He stalked even closer. "But you FAILED and FAILED time and again! No, this time I won't give you another chance!" He bared his teeth and was ready to move in for the kill. "Your usefulness has expired, sharpbeak and bellydragger."

Although she could not see, Dil dropped to the ground and covered her eyes. She curled her body into a ball, a sort of defense for herself. Ichy jumped in with her, and buried his face into her side, trembling. He couldn't bear to watch as the carnotaurus made mince meat out of them.

Suddenly a voice shouted out from the crowd. "NO! STOP!" Chomper raised his head up and looked to see who it was. Dil and Ichy reopened their eyes and turned in the direction the voice had come from. "DON'T DO IT!"

Chomper narrowed his eyes. The voice had belonged to one of a pair. He knew those two. "Mel! Lizzy! How dare you interrupt me! What is your business in doing so?" He growled.

Lizzy was the first to show up. She looked just like Ichy, except her eyes were pale green in color, and not yellow like Ichy's were. She too had gray feathers were her black feathers used to have been, but some of her feathers remained black. Her beak was still blazed with ebon. She flew directly towards the general, and landed near Ichy and Dil. "Please, reconsider their fate, General Chomper." She pleaded. "Just reconsider."

Then the second figure showed up, ready to plea Dil and Ichy's case. It was Mel, Lizzy's partner. Mel looked like Dil, only his eyes were golden yellow, he was light blue with specks of grey, and his spine was navy blue. Like Dil, he had lost a couple teeth from his mouth, but he was still lethal. Unlike Dil, Mel was lucky enough not to be near-sighted, or nearly blind. "If I might make a suggestion, sir," He said respectfully, "..maybe if you paired them up with us, they'd have an easier time to..."

"Why would I want to give them yet another chance!" Chomper boomed, causing Mel and Lizzy to cower as well. "They failed me before! What makes you think that just because you pair up with them they could do better! That they won't fail me again!" He demanded, flexing the claws on his hands menacingly.

Mel gulped. "B-B-B-Because if they are having trouble, we could...h-help them...?" He was so afraid he wasn't thinking straight.

Lizzy hopped onto Mel's head. "Yeah, that's right! If there's any chance those 'kids' are winning against Dil and Ichy, Mel and I could jump in and surprise them!"

"Maybe you should listen to them, sir." came anopther voice, followed by another "It could very well work." Chomper turned to the sourche of the new voices. It were two hing ranked sharpteeth of his army, though they never get in a real fight. One was a big bonecrusher sharptooth (tyranossaur) purple with red eyes, his name was Terry. The second was a dark-green sickleclaw who had yellow eyes, red strips and orange feathers in his head, that grated him a lot of females, but he really never give attention to any of them, he was named Nick.

Chomper narrowed his eyes. He went deep into thought, considering this. It was indeed true there was strength in numbers. He didn't want to waste his time giving these two another chance. But he also wanted to find and kill Littlefoot. He knew Rex was on his tail, but what if he had failed? Chomper seethed. He remembered when Slasher was still alive, how he told him how it was because of Littlefoot that he and his true father were seperated.

He so wanted to get back at Littlefoot for that. He made him suffer. He killed his adopted brother, he killed his father, he even went as far as killed Cera, a close friend of Littlefoot, and who was once a friend of his. He finally closed his eyes, and said, "Very well. I will grant the one more chance."

Dil and Ichy smiled. "Thank you, sir!"

Mel and Lizzy walked up to their mates, and nuzzled them. "We won't let you down, sir!"

Chomper intervened, "But...!" The bellydraggers and sharpbeaks stopped smiling. "...but if you fail me again, all FOUR of you will be executed!" He warned them, growling to prove his point.

Dil, Ichy, Mel, and Lizzy all gulped at the same time when Chomper threatened them with this terrible warning. "O-O-Okay, we won't..." Mel managed to whisper, shaken up. The quartet stared at each other. How were they going to pull off killing at least one of Littlefoot's friends without failure?

Chomper was left behind with his two officials. He looked at them. "So, may I ask why you wanted them to live?". Terry was the first to spoke. "Because they could be useful in the future sir. Together they could make it valuable their time." Chomper looked at him and them at Nick "If they fail, you have to take responsability for this." And so he walked away, leavin the sharpteeth follow their own ways.

When they were leaving, Nick spotted a white and red flower in the ground, it was small, fragile, and yet so beautiful. It quickly made his toughs float to her. He knew very well what Chomper could do to him if he ever suspected, but yet, he was uwningly to risk. She had made him change in many ways, it was because of her influence that he didn't wanted anyone else to die. And he was going to find her again, to be back on her arms, and have her back on his.

* * *

Gorjak flew high overhead, and stared down at the land, trying in vain to search for where Littlefoot's cave was. He sniffed the air, trying to find Petrie's scent. But the winds had blown it all away. He grumbled to himself. He needed to get to Littlefoot's cave and fast!

"The evil alimons, they have returned." He said as his heart pounded. He had feared the alimons in the valley's mountainous walls ever since the day he saw his father being slaughtered by one when he landed there just for a rest. He himself barely escaped, being saved by his mother. "What are they plotting now!"

As if on cue, smoke suddenly blew in his direction, almost smothering him. Gorjak coughed furiously, and flew up higher to escape the black smoke. He squinted his eyes to try and find the source. When he did, his eyes widened. The fire was coming from near a cave! It must be Littlefoot's cave!

"No...I've got to hurry!" With that, he sped off as fast as his wings could carry him.

* * *

The five alimons had returned to their cave. There was clamouring amongst the group. They all sounded excited. Then Gris walked up to a raised rock ledge, and cleared this throat. The whole group went quiet, and listened eagerly to what their leader had to say. Every alimon in that cave was a relative of the previous rebel group years before.

"Followers! I bring good news!" Gris said proudly, his eyes glinting with sadistic happiness. "Our trap has been delivered, and it's about to hatch!"

The alimons cheered and laughed. They all knew well of the plan. They would send a cockatrice to take down the ones who had stopped their kind before from getting what they deserved. Then the cockatrice would die and disappear from existance, and then the alimons could take over the Great Valley. The carnage was great, but there were still dinosaurs out there, hiding until the chaos was over. The alimons could scent it.

One of the alimons spoke up. "And what are we going to do after we conquer the Great Valley?"

Gris grinned maliciously. "We start spreading our territory across the Mysterious Beyond, and claim any other valley we come across."

Once again the alimons cheered. They were very eager to start their global conquest to prove that alimons were the superior dinosaur species, and that they and they alone should rule the earth. Gris watched them, and smiled darkly. "Yes, everything is going according to plan..." He had to laugh as he recalled how he was able to trick Chomper into rallying up all those sharpteeth to attack.

Gris remembered well that it was he who had transformed himself as Slasher and pretended to be Chomper's father. He had manipulated a story to trick Chomper into believing Littlefoot had deliberately seperated him from his 'real' dad. He had pretended to play dead, and then slinked away in the night.

"Chomper was a fool." He chuckled. "Such a fool..."

"Really a fool father." Garick, his son, spoke "Could you tell me once again why?" Gris only smiled at his son, one of the strongest alimons in the pack, his great pride. "Oh yeah, I never really told you this story, right? Well it was like this..." And so he started explaining everything of how he fooled Chomper.


	49. The Look of Death

Part V: The Curse

As Dark Rex was menacing the teenagers, somewhere deep inside his mind, a voice was crying out. In the deep compounds of his brain, a voice of reason rang out. Somewhere in his deep unconsciousness, a light is trying to shine through. "NO! NO! NO! NO!" The voice screamed again and again, trying to be heard, but only silence greeted him. Still chained to the wall, the real Rex struggled to be free. Groaning and grunting, he tried to rip the vines open. Normal vines would have been easy to tear. So what was so different about these? He pulled his left arm as far as he could, trying to break the plant. But before it could break, he would run out of energy and relax, and his arm would be slammed against the wall once more.

"Struggle all you want." A chilling voice that belong to Dark Rex said. "It matters not." The dragon/dinosaur hybrid grinned as he approached the struggling dinosaur. "There's no way you could break out of those binds, my boy."

"Just wait and see!" Rex shouted bravely. "I will find a way! I will make you pay for what you've done!" He frantically tried to break free, but only rewarded with a cold laugh from Dark Rex. Rex finally gave up the struggle and relaxed, his muscles aching from all the strain.

"You might as well give up, young dinosaur." The hybrid laughed and turned and walked a way. "Those vines are reinforced. You will never break them. And because you will never break them, I will be in control of your body until the time comes for me to let you go." He sneered to himself at this statement. "Toodles!"

Rex tried to pull himself forward. "Come back here!" But it was too late. Dark Rex had slipped back into the shadows. Rex was once again all alone. The room was so dark he could barely see his own snout at the end of his face. He could not see the vines, but feel them. He tried struggling free once more, but his energy had been depleted. Defeated, he hung his head mournfully. "He's right...I'll never be able to break free...Never..." He felt large tears emerging from his eyes as he spoke these words. He didn't bother noting if they were streaming down his face or not. He didn't care how many of them came out of his eyes. He didn't care if Dark Rex was watching him from the shadows.

There was only one thing that Rex cared about now. It was the fact that Dark Rex was going to kill his friends and there's nothing he can do stop it. And to make matters worse, once it was all over, Rex would still get the full blame for it. He would be an outcast, shunned away by everyone. His heart had broken into two as he thought about this.

"I have to find a way to get free." Rex thought frantically. "There must be a way."

"There is." A voice had broken through the silence, and this time, it didn't belong to Dark Rex. But Rex couldn't recognize who owned the voice that spoke to him. It was feminine and enchanting. "There is a way to break free of the spell, young one." The voice spoke again.

"How!" Rex shouted, struggling against his binds, straining his head in every which way to search for the voice. "I struggle all I want, but I cannot break free!"

"Even if you break the binds, young one," the voice said, "You will still be under the spell. You will need to do more than just simply break the ropes holding you. You must break the beast that's holding you."

Rex sounded confused and scared. "What...? Beast...?"

The female voice spoke again. "To release yourself from this mind prison, young one, you must tame the beast within..."

Now the dracovol was even more frightened and confused. As if Dark Rex wasn't bad enough, but now there's a beast lurking inside his mind? How could things get any worse! "I must tame the beast? How? Where?"

"You have already met the beast, but that is not his true form." The voice said in a warning tone. "When he is in his true form, you will be free to fight him. But be warned, he will not be so easily taken down. But not worry, because you will be not alone in this fight, someone will help you. Let courage guide you, Rex..." The voice slowly faded until it was silent once more.

Rex was stunned. He was so surprised that he relaxed all his muscles in his arms and legs, giving them a well deserved rest. "I must fight Dark Rex's true form...but what could that be...?" Then his eyes widened in fear when a memory came back to him. That day, when he looked into the water, and saw the beast.

"That beast..." He shuddered. "T-T-That must be his true form!"

* * *

Inside the cave, where Ali's egg was still sitting, the flames had stopped burning, and smoke was leaving the room. The gray smoke stained the walls a darker color, and the smell of something burning, namely some leaves and grass that were stored away in there, seemed to almost completely cover the smell of rotting flesh that came from the strange egg.

The egg suddenly moved, rolling onto one side, and then the other. The shell was starting to crack. A horrible sound emitted from the egg. It sounded like a mix of a raptor shrill and a T-Rex's roar. A large piece of the shell fell to the ground. Then another piece fell down as well. A maze of cracks covered the egg, and then finally, with one kick of its claws, the shell broke open, and stepped out the cockatrice.

The cockatrice was rather small, but size does not matter for a cockatrice. And within a few minutes, it grew larger anyway, until it reached the size of a bellydragger. The stoneglare shook its head and opened its eyes for the first time. They were large and pure yellow, and the pupils were slits, like a raptor's. But instead of being colored black, the pupil was colored a blood red. The cockatrice was covered in feathers, and a sharply hooked, but rather short, beak. It wore a crown of long features and horns around its head. It had feet like that of a sharpbeak, but it they weren't webbed.

The wings it had were like a flamebreath's, and were sharply hooked to the touch. A long scale-covered tail swooshed from side to side, the tip of it being armed with a deadly stinger. When the stoneglare opened its mouth to let out a screech, a row of sharp teeth lined its beak. The cockatrice's feathers were pure white except the ones on its head, which were red tipped with yellow. The scales it had were a gray color, like the color of stone. Black claws and spikes it had, and the inside of its wings were light gray. Its beak was black.

As the sound of the cockatrice emerged from the cave, the ones standing outside immediately stopped, and listened with absolute horror. Sandstorm's eyes widened in fear, and he started to tremble. Yu was backing away slowly, shaking his head as if saying no over and over again. Spike, who had barely managed to get out of the cave, could only watch, and shiver. Ducky could only stand there, and watched in sheer horror. Ali was in disbelief. How could her egg turn out to be such a monster? Petrie clung onto Yu's neck, and trembling miserably.

Dark Rex released his grip from Ali, and walked a few steps towards the cave. A nasty grin on his face, he turned to look at the gang. "Well...I see you have a new play date." He chuckled. "Well I suppose this means that I can leave and go back to Chomper and tell him the good news. See you later!" The dark creature opened his wings and took flight, heading back to where Chomper was.

Ali slowly climbed to her feet. "Why did he leave just like that?" She wondered.

"He was saving his own neck!" Sandstorm shouted. "He's leaving us to the stoneglare!"

"The stoneglare can kill us if he just look into its eyes!" Yu yelled, horrified.

As he said that, something started walking slowly out of the cave. It screeched a few times, its feet snapping twigs, leaves, and ash as it walked forward. The others forgot all about the fire that Dark Rex had started, their attention focused on the creature walking out. As soon as a glint of something looking out was noticed, Sandstorm quickly warned everyone. "LOOK AWAY! DON'T LOOK AT ITS EYES!"

Everyone broke their direct stare away, looking at the ground, the fire, the sky, the plants, the rocks, anywhere but in the same direction as the cockatrice that was stepping out of the cave. It cawed a few times, kicking up dirt. It bobbed its head up and down, checking out the figures that stood before it. It hissed, and let out a loud screech. It took a few steps closer, lowering its head, and glancing up at the beasts.

Although Ali, Petrie, and Ducky could handle the smell better since their noses weren't as sensitive, the remaining dinosaurs had a hard time ignoring the retched smell. Yu and Sandstorm plugged their noses and started breathing in through their mouths to try and avoid the smell. Spike's eyes were shut tightly, and his eyes were watery. He shivered terribly, whimpering. He couldn't look away. He had to keep his eyes shut. The cockatrice looked in Spike's direction, and seemed to know he was an easy target.

The stoneglare walked closer and closer. It stroked its beak against Spike's head in an almost affectionate manner. The stegosaurus squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and groaned. The stoneglare suddenly opened up its sharp beak and let out a terrible shrill. The sound was so loud that Spike was forced to open up his eyes...

...and look deep into the cockatrice's eyes.

Spike didn't even get a chance to say anything when his heart suddenly stopped beating. His eyes became glossy, losing their depthness. Then his whole body turned into rock, freezing him in that position for all eternity.

The others knew what had just happened. They all witnessed it. They quickly looked away, trying to keep themselves from suffering the same fate. Ducky couldn't hold back her tears any longer as they flooded from her eyes. "S-S-Spike...n-no...no...n-n-no..." She choked, and wiped away a tear.

Littlefoot, Spellbound, and Shuva had just arrived onto the scene when they saw Spike frozen in time. "What happened!" Littlefoot cried out.

Spellbound's eyes widened in horror. "Quick! Close your eyes!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Spellbound shrilled.

"It's a stoneglare!" Shuva said, frightened. "One glance will kill."

Quickly, Littlefoot turned his head away, and squeezed his eyes shut. He walked towards where he had seen Ali, and whispered, "What's going on here?"

Ali didn't even look at him as she gave her answer. "Our offspring was a stoneglare..."

* * *

Gorjak was nearby as well. He had heard what they were saying, and quickly closed his eyes. He had a look of sorrow on his face. "A stoneglare...What a low down dirty trick." He said to himself. Not even Chomper himself would have done such a thing. Chomper...Gorjak suddenly suspected that maybe Chomper was not the one behind this whole mess. Thinking back to those alimons, he knew very well that some of them are magical. Could they have something to do with this?

* * *

Dark Rex landed near the platform where Chomper had tried to kill Dil and Ichy only to be thwarted by their meddling mates, Mel and Lizzy. The sharpteeth have mostly dispersed to other parts for the time being. However a few remained. As Dark Rex walked among them, he recognized them. He had fought with them before.

Snowbound was standing with Shadow. The two looked like night and day put together. The white female looked into the skies. "I wonder...could Sandstorm have been right?" The black one looked at her, a curious look on his face. "I mean, these past few days...nothing but death and misery. I'm wondering, is it really all worth it?"

Shadow thought for a moment. He realized his ivory friend had a good point. "But we must not say anything. You know what happened to Sandstorm." His voice trailed off as misery filled his mind.

"I know..." Snowbound said. "I know..."

And close by stood the two feathered raptors, Jackel and Red. Red hissed softly to himself. He was watching Snowbound and Shadow from a safe distance. He knew very well that they had just said, but he decided not to do anything at the moment. "Let's just hope they don't follow in the ways of that traitorous Sandstorm." He said.

Jackel grinned, and nodded. "Yes, indeed. We wouldn't want anymore troublemakers slowing us down."

Red smiled as well. "Chomper has been regrouping us for another assault. And with the valley's defenses weakened, it will be ours in no time!"

"Oh you really think so?" Said a female voice behind them. The two raptors whirled around to see Blueye. The pale yellow raptor had disappeared for a while and no one knew why. "It will not be all that simple."

"And what makes you think that?" Jackel inquired, his green eyes narrowed.

"Don't ever misjudge your enemy." With that, she turned and walked away, leaving behind two baffled sharpteeth.

In another corner, was the sickleclaw knew as Nick, he seemed to busy apreciating a white and red flower. Next to him as the sharptooth named Terry, who seemed at all busy to, studing the other sharpteeth around him, and he seemed not very happy, to say the least.

Dark Rex ignored them, and continued strolling through the sharptooth pack until he found who he was looking for. Chomper was standing near the cave entrance where the sharpteeth have been residing since their original invasion. He was leaning against the rock, and staring up at the sky. He growled softly in frustration, wondering what he was going to do. When he turned around and saw Dark Rex, his frown turned into a smile.

"Welcome back Rex." He said, grinning. "I suppose you took care of those leaf-eaters?"

Dark Rex frowned and shook his head. "I left them be." He twiddled his fingers almost threateningly at himself.

"You what!?" Chomper cried, eyes widened with anger. "You just left them alone!?"

Dark Rex said, "Let me finish." His left eye was starting to glow a little, but it soon faded as he settled himself down quickly. "There was a stoneglare in their cave. It hatched. It will deal with them." He grinned nastily.

General Chomper looked a tiny bit horrified by this, but then smiled. Perhaps the cockatrice could pick off a couple of the dinosaurs, make his job a little easier. But he mostly felt happy that Rex was back with him, and by his side. He beckoned Rex to follow him into the cave.

"Anyway, Rex," Chomper said as they walked along one of the cave tunnels. "We are going to return for another battle against the enemy." Dark Rex narrowed his eyes, and nodded. "We will strike them while they are still weak! They will not be able to resist us!"

"Yes..." The hybrid said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Well, don't get too cocky."

"I won't." General Chomper growled. "I will take down Littlefoot myself...rip out his throat..." He knew that saying was getting old, but he couldn't help himself. He looked at Rex in almost affectionate manner, and said, "I wanted to tell you something, Rex." The dracovol looked at him, a little puzzled. "I never did this to anyone before, but, I'm so impressed by your performance earlier that I've decided to give you the title as General Rex."

Dark Rex's eyes widened in shock. "General...Rex?"

Chomper nodded. "Yes. You are now a general. You will lead half my sharptooth pack and I will lead the other. Together, we'll be invincible!" As he said that, he walked over to a corner of a cave that looked like a jail cell. He looked inside, and smiled maliciously. "Isn't that right...Pterano?" The figure inside, hidden in the shadows, glared daggers at the horned sharptooth outside. But he kept his mouth shut.

"Pterano...? I thought he died..." Dark Rex inquired, looking confused.

"On the contrary, he is very much alive." Chomper grinned. "And he may prove useful yet..."

* * *

As the sounds of the cockatrice shrills filled the air, Gris raised his head up. He was standing with his loyal pack and they too heard the sounds. A nasty grinned crossed over Gris's snout. He knew very well what it meant. The alimons who knew as well shuddered, though they too smiled evilly.

"The stoneglare...is out."

"It has begun?" Sumaru asked almost timidly.

Retaru snarled. "Yes..it has begun." Retaru would've smacked Sumaru across the head, but his better judgement told him otherwise. "Now all we have to do is wait."

"Wait for what?"

Retaru rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Wait until that idiot of a sharptooth Chomper goes in to another battle with the leaf-eaters." He chuckled to himself. "And when both sides are weakened, we shall conquer them both!"


	50. A Look in The Water

Part V: The Curse

"A...stoneglare..?" Littlefoot inquired, his voice trailing off. "How...how could we possibly give birth to a...stoneglare?" He then thought for a second. "Hey what's a stoneglare?" He felt kind of silly asking this, but what could hurt asking a question. Ali whirls her head around to face Littlefoot, her blue eyes narrowed. Littlefoot couldn't tell if it was anger or sadness that was lurking inside Ali's eyes.

"A stoneglare is a monster who kills with its stare. Don't look into its eyes. That's all you need to know." Ali said sternly before looking away. She quickly closed her eyes to protect herself from the stoneglare which had just taken Spike's life. Ducky had felt her away towards her brother, and when she touched his skin, once soft and warm, now hard and cold, she broke out into a sob. Ali tried to hold back tears of her own.

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes, never even daring to look towards the ground. "There must be something we can do..." His eyes tightened as far as they could do. "There's just got to be something! Anything!" He turned to look down at Shuva and Spellbound. "I-Isn't there anything that could stop it?"

They weren't paying attention, but the cockatrice was still looking around. It looked almost confused when the others weren't looking at it. It screeched loudly again, but the others weren't buying it this time. Frustrated, the cockatrice spread its wings and tried to fly, but it was too young, and it fell straight to the floor. Screeching, it scrambled to its feet, and cawed furiously.

Shuva looked downcasted. "S-Sorry kid...but no one's ever succeeded in killing a stoneglare before."

Her cousin looked just as upset. "No one could ever get close enough to attack it without it looking their way and killing them." He kept his eyes closed. "No one knows how to kill it. No one..."

Shuva nodded, eyes remaining closed. "Its glare will kill anything that looks at it." Her body started to tremble. "Even the insects must flee. There's no way to kill this thing. We can only hope we can trap it inside the cave and it starves to death."

Littlefoot listened, and looked shocked. There was absolutely no way to kill the cockatrice? There was no way to keep this monster from killing anyone unless they tried the risky attempt to trap it inside a cave? No way! Littlefoot wasn't buying it. The longneck felt there still had to be another way to kill it. There just had to be! The apatosaurus closed his mind and drifted into deep thought. Ignoring the hideous cawing and pecking of the cockatrice at his feet, he began to think about what Shuva had just told him about a cockatrice. He knew that they could fly later on in life. He knew that they had a horrendous odor linging to them. He knew that you couldn't approach them without your eyes being closed. He knew that one should not look in their eyes or they will kill.

Then Littlefoot's eyes widened. As he recalled what Shuva said about the stoneglare's stare of death, he also recalled how she said it will kill anything. "Wait a minute..." His voice sounded hopeful. "I-I just thought of something..."

Ali turned her head towards her mate. She walked closer and looked into Littlefoot's eyes. "Oh? What is it?" She sounded hopeful too, but she was trying not to get her hopes up too high. She hated to be disappointed in the end.

"Just think about it. Shuva, didn't you say a stoneglare's glare kills anything?" He said, stressing on the word anything. Shuva nodded, but before she could get a word in edge-wise, Littlefoot interrupted. "So wouldn't it be safe to assume that this creature can't survive its own stare?" He said, still sounding hopeful. "What if we tricked it into seeing its own stare?"

Spellbound sounded a little skeptical. "It's never been done before, Littlefoot." The male alimon brushed the feathers on his neck with a paw. "We don't even know if it'll work."

"And on top of it," Ali said, "How are we going to manage it looking at its own stare? Isn't that kind of impossible?"

Shuva thought about this. "Not quite.." Littlefoot, Ali, and Spellbound looked at the green alimon, who was scratching her chin thoughtfully. "The water reflects everything that's in its path. It shows our own image. If we could get the stoneglare to look into the water and it sees its reflection, maybe the stare from the water would be enough to take its life away."

Spellbound shook his head. "It's too risky. And like I said, we don't know if it'll work. Why should we risk our necks trying to get that monster to look into the water when we don't even know if it'll kil it or not?"

"And why should we risk our necks getting it inside a cave and cause a rockslide and trapping it inside without one of us getting trapped in along with it?" Shuva said, glaring at her relative. "I'm all for the longneck's idea. It's never been tried, I give it that. But it sounds like it could work!"

"All right then..." Ali said softly, still looking at Littlefoot. "How do we do that?"

"Well..." Littlefoot said before Petrie cut him off.

"This include me bait again?" Littlefoot couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well we DO need someone to make it look into the water. The only way to do that is to have it chase someone. Since you are the smallest and fastest of us, Petrie, you have to do it." Littlefoot smiled, though his eyes still held seriousness in them. He wasn't joking around with this. And Petrie knew that, no matter how much he begged, he'd still be forced to go through with it.

"Oh..okay..." The flyer said reluctantly. "What me need to do?"

Littlefoot looked at where the river was that was nearby. "All you have to do is get its attention, without looking at it straight in the face." He said in a commanding voice. "Then fly over to the water, and hover over it. When the stoneglare comes for you, dive into the water at the last second, and force it to look into the water. And it should be over." Petrie looked nervous. "I will signal to you when you can come up." Petrie gulped, and flew over to the cockatrice, keeping his gaze way from direct contact with the pupils of the beast.

"Hey you! Stupid stoneglare!" The stoneglare looked up at the annoying flyer. It hissed. "Can't catch me! Can't catch me!" Petrie darted every which way, sometimes at close range, frustrating the stoneglare. The beast screeched in anger, and snapped at Petrie. The plant-eater dodged just in time. "Haha! You miss!"

Petrie started to fly closer to the river. The stoneglare followed, just as they all hoped it would. Ducky watched, glaring, hoping the monster would meet his doom after what he did to her brother. As Petrie neared the water, he gave a careful sideways glance to make sure the cockatrice was still following him. When he was sure, he stopped right above the water. He waited for the cockatrice to get closer. When the cockatrice arrived at the water's edge, it started to look nervous, as though it sensed something was wrong.

Littlefoot's eyes furrowed with worry. "Oh no..I think it knows..."

Ali shushed him. "Shh! Let's see what happens!"

From the treetops, Gorjak watched as Petrie was attempting to get the stoneglare to see its own reflection. The dark flyer thought about this. It seemed logical enough. Gorjak hoped for them that it was indeed true. If this failed, well, he didn't know what to do. He would have tried to help, but after the scrap he had been in with Petrie before, he didn't feel the little guy was ready for his return now, especially in this situation.

Petrie waited for the stoneglare to get a little closer. When he felt it was time, feeling its cold stare on his body, he quickly dived down, and hid under the water, close to the surface. If the stoneglare looked down, it would see its own reflection and hopefully perish. If not, then it's back to square one. Petrie hoped it was the first.

The cockatrice looked into the water, but nothing happened. Shuva took a closer look, avoiding the possible glare. Then horror registered in her mind. "It closed its eyes! The stoneglare actually closed its eyes!"

"Then it's true..." Spellbound said, amazed. "If the stoneglare won't open its eyes, then it must be afraid of turning into stone by its own stare. It must be true!"

Petrie stayed under the water, and was confused as to why Littlefoot wasn't coming for him. Feeling confused, the flyer emerged from the water. "Littlefoot? What's taking so long?"

Littlefoot's eyes widened with sheer horror. "PETRIE! NO! GET BACK DOWN!"

Ducky shouted, "PETRIE! BACK IN THE WATER! NOW!"

Shuva screamed, "GET IN THE WATER!"

Spellbound screeched, "YOU HEARD THEM!"

Petrie was rather confused by the dinosaurs' shoutings. If the stoneglare had looked down, wouldn't it be dead already? What was there to hide from? Curious, the flyer looked at shore. He was careful not to look straight up, in case he was wrong. And he was. He could see that the bird monster's foot was still flesh and blood, and it was still very much alive. Petrie gulped, and looked up and gasped. The cockatrice's eyes were squeezed shut, but its face was pointed in Petrie's direction.

Petrie trembled, unable to move. He waited for the beast to open its eyes and take his life away. But as he waited, nothing happened. Petrie started to climb out of the water, feeling confused as to why the stoneglare hadn't laid a claw on him yet. "Guys! What happen? Why it no attack?"


	51. First Warning

Part V: The Curse

But suddenly, a sharp pain whacked Petrie's small body. "PETRIE!" Littlefoot screeched, trying to run forward, but was held back by Spellbound and Shuva's powerful grips. Petrie let out a loud scream of pain. The cockatrice had struck down, clamping its tooth-filled beak around the much smaller prey. It clamped down tighter, applying more pressure. Petrie made another scream, this one gargled by blood that had seeped into his mouth. He coughed pitifully, and tears started to form in his eyes.

The others could only watch in horror when the cockatrice started shaking Petrie like a rag doll, his bones snapping sickeningly as the force pushed their tolerance to the limit and beyond. When all the bones were broken, the cockatrice placed the flyer on the ground.

"PETRIE!" Ducky was about to race forward, when Ali's tail wrapped around her leg and pulled her back.

"No Ducky!" Ali said sorrowfully. "It's too late! We can't save him now."

Ducky and the others watched as the cockatrice placed its foot on the bottom part of Petrie, and gripped the front part with its strong beak. With a sharp thrust, it ripped Petrie's body in half. The others screamed in disgust, and backed away when intestines and other organs spilled onto the ground. A large pool of blood spread across the grass, and Petrie's spine could be seen, shattered in several places. The stoneglare ate the lower half of Petrie in a single gulp. It released its grip on the other half, and did the same started eating the remains of guts in the ground. Blood still stained the ground at its feet, and clung to the bird's foot and beak. Satisfied it made a kill, the bird let out a screech of accomplishment.

"No!" Littlefoot cried, seeing one of his closest friends get devoured right before his eyes. Now they've lose two friends to the cockatrice, and all in less than twenty minutes. Tears stung Littlefoot's eyes, and he bowed his head. "No...Petrie...no..."

Ducky wiped tears from her eyes. It was like a waterfall for her now. "He...he was my friend...Poor Petrie..."

Ali was shaking terribly, trying to hard to keep herself from falling. "No..it can't be..." The two alimons were too stunned to say anything.

Gorjak's beak dropped open as he watched the ordeal. "That creature means business..." He whispered, but still not daring to move. He looked down at the grieving group, and narrowed his red eyes. If they didn't act soon, they'd all get killed! Why were they just standing there? "HEY! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! DO SOMETHING!" He shouted, forgetting that he was supposed to hide.

Startled by the shouting, the group looked up to see Gorjak perched in the trees, even the stoneglare, that was about to eat Petries upper half lokked in the direction of the new flyer, but not sucesfuly looking in his eyes to kill him. He continued his shouting, "DEFEND YOURSELVES!"

Spellbound was already on it. Using his speed, he ran circles around the cockatrice, making it angry and frustrated. "Hey! Can't you see me?" He taunted as he continued racing around the monster. "Can't kill what you can't see, eh!" The cockatrice let out a shriek of utter confusion, and it launched an attack. Instinctively, the alimon leapt over the bird, and landed behind it. Then he continued racing around it, making the monster more and more confused.

The cockatrice looked left and right furiously, trying to catch a glimpse of the speeding alimon. Then without warning, the alimon stopped, right behind the cockatrice. He then chanted a spell. "Dance, water, dance!" He quickly jumped in a different direction when the cockatrice suddenly whirled over in his direction. As Spellbound continued to jump from one place to another, some of the water was being sucked out of the river and formed what looked like a large solid tube of water that floated his way.

Spellbound smiled. "Yes, dance water!" And just as the cockatrice turned around to face the alimon, the alimon had quickly moved the water in front of him. The cockatrice didn't have time to blink when it caught sight of its own reflection.

A loud screeching echoed from its throat as its own body started to turn to stone. The pupils vanished from its eyes as rock covered its face. The bird tried to run away, but its limbs froze solid. Soon it had suffered the same fate as Spike. Ducky walked up to the statue, and gave it a good whack with her tail. The rock split, and shattered, destroying the shape of the cockatrice. "That's for killing my brother and friend!"

* * *

"The...the stoneglare has been destroyed..." Sumaru said, trembling.

"It has been WHAT!" Gris shouted, teeth bared. He pressed his snout against Sumaru's. "Why didn't you do ANYTHING!" Before Sumaru could answer, Gris clamped his jaws on the back of Sumaru's head. The smaller alimon howled in pain. Gris released his grip and said, "Just be GLAD I let you LIVE!" He turned and walked away.

The small alimon backed away, whimpering. "There...there was nothing I could do..." He said, trembling. "B-But it did manage to kill a spiketail and a flyer..."

"It should have killed more!" The gray alimon struck the ground, scraping the dirt with his claws. "I wanted it to make them suffer! How! How could they have defeated it!"

"A-An alimon made it s-s-s-see its own reflection..."

Gris's eyes snapped open and he turned to Sumaru, shocked. The smaller alimon has got his attention now. "An alimon?" He walked closer, calm but curious. "Just who was this alimon?"

Sumaru thought for a moment. "I-I believe she said it was Spellbound...and he was with Shuva."

Gris's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So...dear old Siria, or should I say Dynamo, is meddling in my plans." He chuckled darkly. "Well, we'll see about that..."

* * *

"You are a madman!" Pterano screamed at the horned sharptooth. Dark Rex had just left to go outside, leaving Chomper and the adult flyer alone. "You will fail! You will fail!" He shook the bars as hard as he could, but the solid rock would not budge.

Chomper laughed coldly as he kneeled down to Pterano's eye level. "Ah, yes, you are quite amusing, aren't you?" He rose back up. "Well scream and say whatever you want, small one. You cannot change my destiny."

Pterano scoffed, and rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, your destiny is to fall off the cliff!" He retorted and spat on the ground in front of the general's feet.

General Chomper ignored the flyer's retort, which Pterano should have taken as a stroke of sheer luck. Had he angered the general, he would have had a divorce with his head. "I'm through playing with you." Chomper said, red eyes narrowed. "I think it's about time I finish you off." At this, Pterano cringed, and backed as far away as he could. Upon seeing this, General Chomper chuckled coldly. "Oh how I love to see you writhe and squirm, little one."

Offended, Pterano stared at the sharptooth straight in the eyes. "Mark my ords, you'll go down. This happiness of yours is not going to last long, and you will suffer more them you ever suffered in your life. You will be maulled by the survivors, along your whole pack of mad sharpteeth."

Chomper smiled and laughed at the flyer "Oh really, I'd like to see if your prediction comes true." And so he walked away laughing, leaving behind an angered flyer. but nor Chomper or even Pterano couldever imagine that his words were right, though not in the reason why Chomper was going to suffer.


	52. Loosening the Bonds

Part VI: Intermission

As Ducky wept for the loss of not only her brother, but one of her closest friends, Littlefoot moved even closer to Ali, and gently nudged her cheek to get her attention. Tears streaming down her face, she turned to face the male longneck. Littlefoot swallowed, trying to find the words to say. What had happened had struck the deepest parts of his heart. He had known Petrie since he was a kid, and now he was gone, taken by some monster he never knew existed. As he stared into Ali's blue eyes, Littlefoot went into an almost deep trance as he thought about all he and Petrie had been through together. Now all that time together has been severed forever.

Memories of Spike also flooded back to him. He remembered how Ducky first met Spike, and how Spike helped save Ducky from Dil and Ichy. Spike was with them his entire life. And this is how his life ended, being turned into stone. What a way to die... Littlefoot shuddered as he thought of how painful it must have been for Spike to feel himself turn into rock, slowly killing him.

"Littlefoot?" Ali asked, breaking the other longneck's trance. "What are you thinking?"

Littlefoot shook himself back to his senses. "Oh, I was just thinking about how terrible of a loss this is..." He spoke sadly, voice bordering on sobbing. "Petrie and I were best buds for so long...and so was Spike. He choked back tears as best as they could, but Ali could clearly see the clear liquid flowing from the others' eyes.

"I know, Littlefoot." Ali said soothingly. "I know."

"Ali...I-I have to know." Littlefoot gathered the courage to ask. "Who...who did this..?" A few more tears flooded down his face. "Who caused this to happen?" He was almost terrified of what the answer was going to be. He braced himself, staring at Ali, waiting for her to answer.

Ali swallowed hard. "R-Rex did.."

Littlefoot's heart filled with a sharp pain, his mind became filled with anger. Eyes narrowed dangerously, he bared his teeth and growled. It was so menacing that even the two nearby sharpteeth, Yu and Sandstorm, had backed away in fear. The longneck stomped his foot into the ground. "THAT'S IT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "I HAVE HAD IT! I'M GONNA SETTLE THINGS ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Ali had backed away, frightened by Littlefoot's temper. Ducky and the alimons were horrified as well, as they stared in shock at what Littlefoot had shouted. Yu and Sandstorm were trembling, and they took a couple steps back. "J-Just how are you p-p-planning on doing that, Littlefoot...?" Ali stammered, afraid of what the answer might be.

Littlefoot's mind was still clouded by anger. "I'M GOING TO ROUND UP THE ALIMONS THAT'S WHAT! I'M GOING TO SEND THEM TO ATTACK AND KILL ALL THE EVIL SHARPTEETH! I'M GOING TO FIND REX AND CHOMPER AND MAKE THEM PAY!" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he was letting out his rage. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH THEM AND CAUSING PAIN AND MISERY! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE THAT THEY WERE MY FRIENDS! I'M GONNA KILL THEM!" As he finished his shouting, his body started trembling, and tears flowed from his eyes once more.

The others around him were frightened by this sudden let out of anger and rage. They had backed away a couple feet now, giving Littlefoot room to cool down. Littlefoot lowered his head, panting heavily but slowly. As he was seemingly cooling down, Ducky took a few cautious steps towards him. "You...feeling better Littlefoot?"

Littlefoot shot her an angry look, eyes misted by the tears. "Do I LOOK better!" He snapped, causing Ducky to cringe back in fright. Ignoring that, Littlefoot looked at Shuva and Spellbound almost angrily. The alimons, although they both knew they could take him on and win, backed away but kept eye contact. "Shuva! Spellbound!"

"Y-Y-Yes...?" Shuva asked nervously.

"W-What is it?" Spellbound inquired.

"Come with me!" He shouted sternly. "We are going to round up the alimons and prepare for a full-scale attack!"

Yu stepped forward, trembling. "L-Littlefoot..I understand your anger but...don't you think you are being too drastic..?"

Littlefoot shoved his face against Yu, causing the sharptooth to recoil. "Too drastic? TOO DRASTIC!" He snarled. "I have been avoiding drastic measures for too long, Yu! I'm putting my food down!" He returned his attention back to the alimons. They shivered, but nodded. "Good, let's go."

"But Littlefoot..." It came Shuva's voice "Going straight to them now would be foolishness..." She choose her words very carefully "Ate least give us one day to group and prepare for battle. Please." Littlefoot looked at her for a few moments, then he bowed his head. "Fine. One day, and them we go at them with all we have." And with that the group resumed their way back to the alimon caves.

* * *

Rex was limp against the wall, his head bowed in submission. His eyes were closed, and it looked as though he were in a deep sleep. And if he was, he was dreaming about how things used to be, way back before his sharptooth instinct had been first awakened. He still rued that day, but he did realize that he would not have met Yu and his pack if he hadn't done so, and he would have never have discovered what he truly was, a dracovol.

(A/N: Kumo is Sora's character and Turquoise is EbonyPatriot's character.)

A laugh was forced from his mouth. A humorous memory came back to him. He recalled the time when Kumo had regained some of his childhood memories, memories that had been pushed far back into his mind, and he one day reclaimed some of them. Kumo had told Rex, with a somewhat annoyed look on his face, how a troodon named Turquoise had called the dracovol species Flying Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Rex had burst out laughing at the statement, although his cousin didn't see what was so funny about it.

Rex hasn't seen Kumo in years. He had first thought he'd been attacked and eaten by the alimons years ago. But that couldn't be possible. Kumo was way too tough for that. Rex sighed. Whatever happened to Kumo he had never found out. And he highly doubted that he would ever solve that mystery.

He tugged a little on the vines. They were still tight as before. He pulled a little harder, and they still stayed secure, bounding his limbs to the wall. He snarled viciously as he remembered what the spirit earlier had said. "To release yourself from this mind prison, you must tame the beast within... But not worry, because you will be not alone in this fight, someone will help you..." Rex repeated to himself. "What did she mean by that?" It wasn't much help in releasing him from the bonds. And according to the spirit, the real battle would be fought after he had gotten himself loose.

He struggled harder, and suddenly, he felt something weakening. He relaxed himself, and gently pulled on one of the vines binding him. It had become looser! Smiling with enthusiam, the dracovol pulled even harder. His struggles had been paying off all this time. All this time his efforts had been weakening the bonds!

But the thingsa were still tight enough to him not free himself alone. He really needed help, ther spirit did said that was going to come help to him. But, how could someone come to help him inside his own mind? And what kihnd of creature would be able to defeat a beast like that, even with his help? The more he tough about it, the most he felt his hopes being crushed by the truth that maybe the spirit was wrong, or maybe that it had lied, or maybe thast even it was Dar Rex trying to put a prank on him just to make him suffer.

* * *

Chomper had left the cave. He had had enough of Pterano's big mouth and secretive behaviors. He had ordered him to be killed in a few hours. Pterano was still trapped within the prison, and was unable to squeeze himself out. He hasn't seemed to lose his fighting spirit however. To amuse himself he started to scratch the wall with his small but sharp claws.

"So...this is how it ends..." He mused to himself, dropping his wing to the ground when he stopped scratching the wall. He looked down on the cold hard ground. If his spirit was broken, he was doing a very good job of hiding it. "All I can do is hope that they find someway out of this whole mess, someway to defeat the sharpteeth." He looked up at the cave walls. "Our chances are not the best right now."

But then, as Pterano craned his head far back enough, he could see an opening in the ceiling. He backed himself against the wall to get a better look. To his amazement, the hole was in his own prison! He could see the light of the morning sun outside. Smiling slyly, Pterano took a quick look around his environment before gripping the rock with his claws and made the journy up the wall. And lucky for him, no sharptooth came back to check up on him. As Pterano reached the exist, he took in a deep breath of air...and nearly gagged.

"The air..it smells...rotten." Then a look of horror grew on his face when he started to recognize one scent, laced with the smell of the dead. He shook his head in disbelief. "No...no..." Tears formed in his eyes. "No..not him...oh please..not him..." Pterano spread his wings open and took off. "Petrie..."

* * *

Syna and Nychus had struggled through one of the valley's entrances. They were attracted and horrified by the smell of decay. They walked cautiously among the foliage, and hoped they didn't attract the attention of the sharpteeth. "It looks like they beat us to it..." Nychus said softly, shaking his head.

"What do we do...?" Syna whimpered.

"We must find the one in charge of the place. We must convince him or her to go to Fortress Valley and help liberate the others. With the combined effort, we will win." Nychus said bravely, glaring at the pack of sharpteeth that was several yards away.


	53. A Forbidden Love

(AN: Okay everybody, from this point on I'll start making the big changes. What was changed little in the past will now be very important. From this point on is like another story had begun. And be warned, this is yet far from ending, hope you really like to read. Another thing, now the chapters will take longer to be posted, and starting now, there will be some factors that may not please all readers, like songs and other things. Read if you want.)

Part VI: Intermission

"But why we don't attack now?" asked Jackel, along with many other fast biters

"We can take the valley now." screamed another sharptooth.

"They have no chance already." Another one screamed too.

In the middle of this a huge roar made everyone go silence. It was Chomper that roared to make everyone shut up. After the silence take place Chomper smiled to his troops and calmly said "My friends, my soldiers, I understand your wish to fight now, and I hinglly appreciate it. But it has no hurry now. The leaf eaters are already weakened and their spirits completely broke." He grinned as he said the last words. "We have no need to act right now when we can appreciate or moment of glory. Tonight we will celebrate. Celebrate our future in this valley. Eat and sleep well tonight, because tomorrow we will take this valley, once and forever!"

When he said the last words he received an ovation from his troops. The sharpteeth all cheered at him while he walked away, followed close by Dark Rex. The troops had already received the notice that Dark rex was now a general, some were surprised that Chomper had actually choose someone to be general aside himself. Many thought that maybe this Rex guy was not worth trusting at all, but they all received the news with composure.

"It was a really nice speech of you General Chomper." Dark Rex greeted the blue horned sharptooth. "Short but strong." Chomper turned to him with a smile "Thank you General Rex. My father already told me when I was younger that I had real talent with words."

"Well, he was right. You know the right thing to say to lift someone." Dark Rex greeted with a toothed grin. Chomper could feel his cheeks heating. What was this? He was blushing!? He was General Chomper! He didn't blush! He quickly diverged his face from the dinosaur/dragon hybrid as he said "W-well, thank you." Lucky for him the attention was diverged by a voice.

"General Chomper."

The two great dinos turned to the source of the new voice. It was Sylvia. Chomper almost sighed relived that she had arrived now. He had sent her to Fortress Valley to check at the place and see if was everything right and that none of the prisoners had escaped. He quickly walked to her to talk "Ah, Sylvia. So, is everything right back in Fortress Valley?"

"Everything seemed quite fine." It was her response.

"No problems at all?" asked Chomper. She only shrugged "Nothing I couldn't take care of myself." Chomper smiled by hearing this. "Good, now why don't you eat something? You must be starving."

She polite refused "Nah, its okay, I have a heavy lunch in Fortress Valley. maybe I don't even need to dinner tonight. I ate till the last bite." It was truth, she really had eaten a lot. Chomper only chuckled at her "As you wish."

Behind him Dark Rex cleared his throat, calling for their attention. "Oh, what a head of mine. Sylvia, this is General Rex. From now on he will lead half of the troop along with me." Sylvia was taken back by the notice that Chomper had actually promoted someone to General, but she acted accord, bowing her head in a sign of respect. This made Dark Rex smile.

* * *

Pterano was flying like mad. It couldn't be truth, he probably would find Petrie okay and discover that was all a thing of his head.

But he hadn't this kind of happiness.

Already from a distance he could see, in a place that seemed to be left not to long ago, a body of a flyer that seemed awfully familiar. _No, tell me it isn't._ Pterano though on despair as it sank in. And even more as he come closer and could confirm by the features that those were really the mortal remains of his nephew. He landed and slowly walked closer to the half body in front of him, the eyes still open in horror and pain.

"Petrie..." He said in a shaken voice, he grabbed the corpse and used his wing to close its eyes, giving it a more peaceful look, then he just couldn't hold it anymore. He hugged the body tight and close to him as tears started to pour from his eyes like a waterfall and he sobbed.

The only family that he had, the only one that was left to him in this world, was now gone. He was completely alone now.

* * *

This day had went quickly, the sharpteeth pack was now feasting in the remains of the dead leaf-eaters that they could catch. They were singing and were quickly becoming drunk of satisfaction. there were laughs and many sang songs of how the valley would fall and how the sharpteeth were invincible and would reign. But not everyone was in the party.

Terry had stayed away, like he always does. Sylvia was going to sleep, as she had already ate before the festivities start, without anyone seeing as usual, in her words she "doesn't wanted to be in the middle of such a mess", this only granted a laugh from her mother.

In the middle of the party was Jackel, eating a great slab of swimmer meat, along with Meta. That's when Meta noticed something.

"Hey, where is Nick going?" Jackel looked at him and then in the direction that he was looking. He saw really, Nick, one of the hingest ranked sharpteeth in the pack, walking away from the rest of the others. Almost like he was sneaking.

Jackel narrowed his eyes at this. What was Nick doing? Where he was going at this time? It couldn't be for food or water since there were carcasses over there and they were right next to a lake. And why it seemed like he wanted to go undetected? All those questions made the sickleclaw take a decision.

"Lets see where he is going." Jackel said as he went after Nick without being seen. Meta hesitate a little, took one last bite of meat and went after him.

* * *

Gorjak was now flying over the Great Valley, seeing all the bodies scattered over the whole place, he stopped over in a tree and sighed heavily. It was hard to believe that this once was a place of peace and beauty. But now, was just of death and suffering. He looked one last time over the valley before leaving, but he caught something in the corner of his eye.

In the middle of the carcasses there was something moving... It was a rainbow face! A young rainbow face in the top of her wealth, and seemed to be not much older than Littlefoot and his friends. She was walking around all the bodies, she seemed to be going to somewhere, and was being very cautions, like doesn't wanting anyone to she.

_Maybe she is hiding from te sharpteeth._ Gorjak though. _Maybe she has others with her and they're all hiding._ Gorjak thought of maybe appearing to her, but she would probably attack or run away, so he decided to follow her to she were she was going.

* * *

Meta and Jackel had kept a track of Nick successfully without him noticing, luckily they were both good at sneaking around. They had followed him right to a forest in the valley. And right now they were sneaking. That was when someone said "Ouch!"

Jackel, startled, quickly jumped out of sight as Nick turned around. Not seeing anything, Nick continued his way. When jackel was sure he had not noticed he turned around to see want made Meta yelp. He saw the sickleclaw flat in the ground. He had tripped in one thing that he thought to be a root, but in a closer look discovered to be a tail. Gill's tail.

"What are you doing here?" whispered Meta to the bellydragger, who was in companny of Mel and the two a sharpbeaks. "We were trying to find those leaf eater that Chomper told us so." Said Gill in self-defense. "What are you doing here and why are we whispering?"

"We are following Nick." Jackel said in an impatient whisper. "He was acting strange so we decided to see what he was up to."

"Can we go with you?" asked Ichi "If there is anything that Chomper must know, so we will make sure of it."

Jackel stared at him with a look of "yeah, lets pretend it". He knew that they were only trying to find something to use as excuse to not be killed by Chomper when they arrived without success. Jackel only sighed and, in a rare show of compassion said "Okay, but keep hidden and stay quiet." And with that the group resumed their following.

They followed Nick for more a few minutes, until he arrived in a clearing. They keep hidden in the bushes and could see that in the clearing was a rainbow face, and that Nick was approaching her from behind. They thought that Nick was about to make a kill.

* * *

Gorjak had followed the rainbow face for some time now, he had followed her straight to a forest. It was hard to keep track on her from above the trees, but he did it.

The rainbow face stood in a clearing, she stayed there and walked around it, like she was nervously waiting for something, maybe other leaf eaters. Gorjak stood in a tree, between the branches, just watching. And he almost fell his heart stop when he saw a green sickleclaw with red strips and orange feathers on his head approach her from behind.

Gorjak was about to do something, to attack the sharptooth, to scream to her to "Look out!", but before he could the sharptooth said. "Lily."

The rainbow face, by hearing her name, turned back to face the one who called her, and saw the sickleclaw. But, to the surprise of the ones hidden, instead of getting scared and trying to run away, she smiled and her pink eyes brightened as she exclaimed "Nick!" And so she ran to him and hugged him tight.

This surprised and confused everyone, but not more than Nick hugging her back. They remained in the hug for a few seconds, then they separated, looked in one another's eyes, and put their lips together in a kiss.

Gorjak's beak fell agape, Jackel's eyes bulged open, and Gill's mouth was now so open that a basketball ball could fit in it without touching the sides. "What is going on?" was the though in everyone's mind. There is a war between leaf eaters and sharpteeth going on and now two of then were kissing like a newly mated couple?

The pair keep looked in the kiss until the need of air made them apart. "Oh Nick." said Lily "I was so worried about you. You were taking too long. I thought that they had found out about me, about us." Her voice filled with the most sincere of worries. Nick could only smile at his loved one. The one that made his whole perception of the world go different. The one for who he had fallen in love and that made all other females around him seem meaningless.

"Oh Lily, you know that I'm careful."

"Yes, but still a got worried." she said looking in his eyes. "So, what is up now?". Nick's smile faded, and sadness and worry filled his face. "They're all making a huge party." He said "Chomper plan to make us march over the valley tomorrow, taking everything in our way. He and the new one that he made General, some Rex guy"

She stared back at him "So tomorrow everything will change." She stated, Nick only lowered his head. "I'm afraid yes." They looked deep in one another eyes, then Lily rested her body against his, resting her head in his shoulder. "How I wish this night could last forever."

(AN: the music here is Right Here, Right Now; from Hing School Musical 3. Edited to fit the scenery.)

Nick looked at her as she rested her body in his. He then looked up and saw a star. The first star of the night. She wished, and maybe the star could make it true. He smiled at the though. Then a song started playing (for who is watching like in a tv), a piano song with a guitar. Then he started singing "Can you imagine what would happen if we could have any dream?"

Lily, surprised, looked at him, and him looked back to her and keep singing "I'd wish this moment was ours to own it and that it would never leave." She smiled at him, a warm smile, as he sang "Then I would thank the star who made our wish come true." "Come true" Lily sang as a playback, and he sang again "Cause it knows that where you are is where I should be too."

Then he took her hands in his and sang with all his heart "Right here, right now. I'm looking at you and my heart loves the view, cause you mean everything. Right here, I promise you somehow." He looked deeply and loving at her beautiful eyes that made the stars look without shine. "That tomorrow can wait for some other day to be." Lily made the playback "To be." "But right now there's you and me."

Lily then started to sing "If this was forever, what could be better? We've already proved it was. But things are going down and in so little time will blend the universe." They sang the four last words together, and then Lily sang again in solo. "Gonna make everything in our whole world change." And Nick sang "It's our change, yeah." And Lily keep singing "And you know that where we are will never be the same. Oh no."

Then she sang in a more happy tone "Right here, right now, I'm looking at you and my heart love the view, cause you mean everything. Right here, I promise you somehow, that tomorrow can wait for some other day to be." And Nick sang in playback "To be." and so he and lily sang together "But right now there's you and me."

"Oh, we know that it's coming." Nick sang and Lily sang "And it's coming fast." At the same time that Nick sang the playback "As long as there's you and me." And so he sang "So let's make this second last." and he sang along with Lily "Make it last."

Then Nick sang "Right here." And so was Lily turn "Oh, right now." Nick sang "I'm looking at you." Then Lily "And my heart loves the view." Then they sang together "Cause you mean everything. Right here, I promise you somehow." Nick sang "That tomorrow can wait-" Then Lily finished. "For some other day to be." Then Nick sang "To be. But right now there's you and me." Then Lily made the playback "You and me." Then Nick "You and me". Then they finished together "But right now there's you and me." They sang the last part approaching their faces slowly, and connected their lips in a warm kiss, as the world seemed to fade around then.

Gorjak was stunned for a few moments. The he snapped out of this. "I have to tell Littlefoot about this." He said to himself and flew away, ahead to the caves. The sharpteeth were very much in the same situation. Jackel nudged Meta, making he snap out of it. "We have to go back and tell Chomper about this." Meta looked at him and once more at the two dinos that seemed to be stuck in one another by the mouths. "He is not gonna be happy about this." Then they walked away, leaving the pair alone. They would never hear what they talked next.

The need for air made them apart again. Then Nick had to drop his smile at a more serious though. "Lily, when they march over tomorrow they will probably kill anything in their way that is not a sharptooth." He looked deep in her eyes and grabbed her by the arms. "Lily, you need to leave the valley as soon as possible, before the day rise. search for a new home, a safe place to stay."

Lily looked at his eyes, seeing all the worry and the love he felt for her, she then put her hands gently on his face and said "So let's go together. Nick lets runaway together. To where they'll never find us." Nick sighed. "Lily, we've already talk about this. If I leave now without an explanation and without talking to someone, and even if I gave a good explanation, they would not accept my departure. They would track me by my scent and would so find yours along with me. Then they would chase us and so we would become the prey. Is too dangerous."

"But Nick." Lily hold his face straight to her's and said looking deep in his eyes. "We both are in danger every time we meet, why would this be different? This time we would be facing danger to search for a better future for us. To be in a place we don't need to hide anymore, were we can live safe together. A good place to when our child arrive."

Nick was taken back by the last words. His eyes widened as he stared at Lily in shock. "O-our... child?" Lily smiled at him, she took his hand and make him press it against her belly. He was extremely careful to not cut her with his sharp claws. He then felt something; a bulk that he was sure that wasn't there before. He looked stunned at her as she announced with a smile. "You are going to be father."

* * *

Gorjak flew at top speed trough the cave entrance, startling two alimons that were going out. He flew trough the tunnel until he came crashing in the great cave, startling everyone inside.

"Gorjak" exclaimed Littlefoot, he sounded angry like he had interrupted something important. Bu he had been like this the whole day since Rex betrayal "Why do you enter like this?" Gorjak took a few deep breaths and started tell the others what he had just saw.

* * *

Back in the sharpteeth territory, Jackel and company passed hurried by the others, looking for Chomper. Then they finally found him, talking with Rex. "Sir! Sir!" Meta screamed, getting his attention. They arrived in him, Meta gasping for air "What?" Chomper asked in an annoyed tone. Meta looked at him and gulped.

All the sharpteeth got their attention taken when their General screamed "WHAT!?"


	54. Confrontation of the Lovers

Part VI: Intermission

Lily was walking back to her hiding place, being very careful with other sharpteeth that could see her and want her as midnight snack. She was indeed both happy and nervous. Happy because Nick had finally decided to runaway with her, search for a good place to raise their family, and nervous because if they were caught... She shuddered at the though. But se would worry about it in time, now she had to get ready for their departure.

Suddenly something appeared in her way coming from the sky, making her scream in surprise. She then saw that it was a sharptooth flyer and the color went away of her face. But then the sharptooth said "My name is Gorjak. Littlefoot send me here." Lily then calmed down, she had heard that the leader of the Great Valley; Littlefoot, was now regrouping the survivors with the help of some sharpteeth.

Gorjak seemed strangely serious when talking to her. "Please follow me". Lily hesitated a little, but tem followed the flyer.

The trip was kinda awkward. The flyer barely talked to her, only talking when she asked him something, an always gave quickly answers. Lily could have though more about the flyer's behavior, but she was busy enough trying to keep his track with the difficult terrain. The went like this for a few minutes when they finally arrived in a cave, so Gorjak landed and signed to Lily to follow him.

She followed him in the cave and then they arrived n the great center. She was surprised to see sharpteeth creatures that resembled longnecks. She had heard of them before and knew what they were. They were alimons, and she knew that they protected the Great Valley, but she had never actually believed them, even less when they didn't stopped the valley from being invaded by crazy sharpteeth.

But there they were, looking at her and whispering among them. Lily was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. She was guided by Gorjak until the center of the place, were there was a great rock. In the rock that was a young adult longneck with two sickleclaws, a longneck that she knew. It was Littlefoot himself. And he did not looked happy.

She stood right there in front of him. Then he lowered his head to her eye level and spoke in a controled voice. "Lily, right?"

She slowly nodded. That longneck's voice was very calm, but there was something in his tone that made she feel very uncomfortable. The longneck raised his heads and spoke to her. "Lily, I'm pretty sure you already know that our situation is delicate. It become like this because of sharpteeth who took our trust only to achieve their goals" he said in a very bittersweet tone "Sharpteeth can be deceitful, and most of them care for none other then their own kind. This is a lesson I learned the hard way."

Lily looked at him "What is your point?" Littlefoot sighed and decided to go straight to the point "Okay Lily, we know about Nick, and don't try to deny it, because we have a very good source." He finished gesturing towards Gorjak. Lily was taken back by this. It took a few moments to her to understand what Littlefoot meant by deceitful, and when she got it she become angry.

How could this longneck judge Nick? He never knew him or meet him before. Who was him to judge? Litlefoot proceeded with his talk.

"Do you have any idea of what you are getting yourself into?"

Lily talked back at him with ferocity "I'm know perfectly sir. I'm living my life with the one that I love." This made the whisper among the alimons grow stronger, but didn't made the longneck's tirade go down. "He is dangerous and surely a liar. He only care for himself like all the others on Chomper's troops..."

At this point Lily simply was to angry to keep quiet. She screamed at the longneck in a way and with an expression that made even the alimons back off a little. "I have been meeting with him for far too long before this war even started! We have been friends for years before we realized that we were in love! During all this time we meet outside the valley and he never ever tried to go inside! Even when the valley was taken he was still seeing me hidden from the others, protecting me, and he never tried to harm me in any way! How do you explain that Littlefoot?"

The Yu and Sandstorm looked at each other. This rainbow face knew how to stand her ground, and plus she had a point. Littlefoot couldn't explain why of this behavior that doesn't fit in Chomper's troops. But the longneck refused to see it and offered his own theory. "He is using you." He warned "He is trying to find out as much of us as he can. He is just trying to help his own kind and he will kill you when he doesn't need you anymore."

"NO! You're wrong!" She exclaimed with tears starting to perk in her eyes "You don't know Nick. He is kind and sweet. He cares for me and for others, and he would never do anything to hurt me."

"Just look at you." Littlefoot said "You are already under his charm."

"Yeah, I am." Lily said "And don't need to worry because we will not be here for your war." She saw the question in the longneck eyes and said "Yes, Nick and I will go away, for a place were we can live happy and in peace. We are going to find up. We will leave this valley, and don't worry because we not plan to come back."

At this point the alimons were all mumbling between them, and Yu and Sandstorm shared another look, this girl had real courage. Littlefoot intervened "Do you really belive him? It's a trap. He is probably waiting with the rest of his pack to have you for dinner."

"I'm leaving now." She said not giving attention at the longneck "Goodbye!"

"Grab her, now!"

At this command one alimon raced forward and took hold of her. "Let me go!" She struggled, but it was fruitless. "Take her to a safe place and keep an eye on her. We cannot afford to lose another of ours." The alimon dragged her as she kept trying to break free.

"You know, Nick told me somethings about Chomper!" Lily screamed as she was dragged "He told me a lot of how he acts. And you know Littlefoot? If you weren't before you are becoming exactly like him now." By hearing this Littlefoot let out a savage roar that made everyone back off "Take her out of my sight right now." Lily was taken away as Littlefoot took his breath again, trying to calm down. No one was trying to get close to him right now. But everyone shared a common though: that maybe Littlefoot was really starting to get more like Chomper.

* * *

Nick was walking back at the place ha had come out. The news of a hatchling were a shock to him. He had long discharged the idea of having a child with Lily because they were just too different. It was a great joy to him, but also a real worry. What kind of child it would be? Would be a rainbow face like the mother or a sickleclaw like him? Or a mix of both? What would life be like to this child? What would even happen if anyone discovered of it? All those worries made his head swing.

But he needed to think about one thing at time. Now he had to worry about the trip in front of him. After hearing of the child he finally decided that was better to leave the war right now. He was going back to eat as much as he could to get ready for the long road ahead. He was arriving back late. So no one was suppose to be up until that late.

No one was suppose to be up.

He was greatly surprised when he arrived and faced Red and Jackel right in front of him. Both with a very serious expression. "General Chomper wants to see you." Red said outspoken and in a stern tone "Now!" And with that they went walking through the place.

In several places there were still sharpteeth up. Talking among them. They quickly silenced when Nick passed. Some looked straight at him accusingly, some were still mumbling and pointing to him, some looked at him like he was a being from another world. It went for almost one minute when he finally arrived at a place Chomper was standing with Dark Rex at is side. In his face a nice smile.

"Nick!" He greeted him "One of my most ranked man. How nice that you found time to see me in your life so stirred." His face denoted a happiness, but his tone made a shiver run down Nick' spine.

"What do you mean Sir?" Nick asked "Oh, Nick." Chomper talked "You have a wild life, so full of things to do and dinos to see." Every alarm at Nick's head was ringing now, telling him to turn back and run as fast as he could. Then Chomper continued, turning his back to him "But, after all, you can find a way to do everything, Right? After all..." He turned again to look straight at Nick and finished in a darker tone "Tomorrow can wait for some other day to be."

The alarms stopped, along with Nick's heart. They knew.

Before Nick could run he felt something hit his leg, making him go on his knees, it was Jackel who had kicked him. He barely had time to register it because Red had headbutted him, making he fall flat on the ground. Then the two sickleclaws took hold of his arms, forcing him to get up and to face Chomper again. The smile had leaved the General's face, being replaced by an angry and, why not say, outraged expression.

"Like Sandstorm, Yu and Gorjak weren't bad enough." He talked as he give some steps, closing the distance between him and Nick "Like a few who betray their species for a bunch of leaf eaters weren't already enough, now we have you." He looked at Nick like he was a cockroach that made the place dirtier only with his presence. "You have surpassed all the limits! Having a romance with one of the leaf eaters! Not even the others would go so down! Bravo!" He clapped his hands mocking at the sickleclaw, who only stared back at him.

Chomper then stopped his mocking and come closer, puting his own face a foot from Nick. "But, you could have taken information from her." He talk in a calmer voice "Could it be your plan right? Fooling the sap sucker into giving you things that could be valuable for us." When Nick heard Chomper call Lily of that his eyes burned with anger, but Chomper ignored it "So, you are not a traitor, but a valorous soldier. Now, why don't you prove it and tell us what do you got from the garden gorging?"

After the words "Garden gorging" leaved Chomper's mouth, Nick made the unthinkable to any sharpteeth in the army: He spat in his General. All the sharpteeth around, even the ones holding him gasped as he spat on Chomper's face, hitting his right eye. Dark Rex only raised an eyebrow. The big horned sharptooth tilted his head backwards, hissing angry. There was a dead silence while he used his hand to clean the best he could the spit of his eye. Then he looked back at Nick with a murder look, wich Nick rettributed with anger.

"So." Chomper hissed "You ARE a traitor after all." He looked him straight in the eyes, but didn't saw any sign of fear, which was common when he was angry "And this all for a rainbow face?"

Nick stared back at him "I love her." Was his answer "I love her with all my heart. Do you know what is to love someone more than anything in your life? More than your own life?" He didn't expect an answer "No. I don't think so. Someone like you, so tainted by hate and greed will never understand things like friendship and true love." He finished looking defiantly at the big horned sharptooth "You are incapable of loving Chomper. And for that, I pity you."

Chomper got closer to him in a blink of an eye, to the point where his snout and Nicks were almost touching, he was snarling and all his teeth were bared, like he wanted Nick to see every last of them. But the sickleclaw didn't show any sign of fear, like Chomper was nothing that could really do the bad to him, while the two holding him almost lost their footing by the scare. Chomper was impressed. He really seemed to be very brave in relation with that leaf eater... Then a though crossed his mind. And his bared teeth became a dark grin.

"So. The rainbow face is really important to you? This Leila must be interesting." Chomper said turning away from him. Nick corrected "Lily. Her name is Lily."

Chomper only chuckled while walked away from him "Lily. I want to know her." Nick's eyes went wide "I wanna see what on her called your attention. I can invite her to come have a dinner with me. As main plate."

Nick snarled furiously. He headbutted Red and threw Jackel on the ground, freeing himself from them. Then he went to Chomper claws stretched and teeth bared for fight. But before he could make contact with the General, Dark Rex put himself in the middle, headbutting him and sending him reeling in the ground. Nick spat some blood, the attack had fractured two, maybe three of his ribs. Chomper only chuckled at his attempt to attack him.

As Nick was picked up by Red and Jackel again, then Chomper said "Take him out of my sight. He is yours for now, but don't kill him, I want him alive to see me rip out the guts of his precious rainbow face." Nick snarled again at Chomper, struggling as he was dragged "Don't you dare touching Lily you bastard!" Nick screamed at Chomper "If you lay one claw on her you will regret for the rest of your short, miserable life! Are you hearing me!?".

As Nick was taken Chomper only sighed. "I work hard, hard and hard to make everything works and I get disappointment as reward." He then looked at Rex "It seems that you have to be careful by chosing who to trust." Dark Rex only nodded "Okay, but we have the problem now of the information lost." Chomper knew he was talking about the information that Nick must had given to the leaf eater "We have no real way to know how much he told her, so we must first presume that they know everything."

Chomper knew this, but he only laughed "Yeah, and so? We should presume this as well when Yu showed his true colors. But now we have such an advantage that this don't make any difference." He turned to his troops "It doesn't matter how much the enemy knows, because we have already won this war. This valley will be ours!" He was greeted with many roars of approval from the sharpteeth.

Between then were Blueye and Sylvia, both looked since the beginning the whole scene. Blueye had a very revolted look. "Bah. Having a romance with an enemy. Nick was worse than the other traitors. I must say that he could be even worse than your father, Sylvia." Once again, like many other times in the past, Blueye failed in notice the heavy expression of her daughter.

* * *

Lily was now in a rock room. It was large enough o her to walk around a little. the entrance was sealed with a rock. In the ceiling was a rustic window that let the air and the moonlight in. Lily could try to climb to go through it, but if she fall it could damage the egg inside of her, and it was a risk she was not willing to take. She was now sitting in the ground, moonlight shinning over her. In her hands there were two white and red flowers, that she found growing in the ground of the room when she was pushed in.

(The song here is Love Will Find a Way, from Lion King 2; Disney)

She looked at the two flowers in her hands. Identical to the flower that Nick gave to her in the day he told her his feelings. Her thoughts went to him. Wondering why the others couldn't see the beauty of their union. Then she sang "In a perfect world, one we've never know, we would never need to face the world alone." She looked through the opening, to the moonlight, and sang with all her heart, like somehow her voice could go to Nick "They can have the world, we will create our own. I may not be brave or strong or smart, but somewhere in my secret heart."

She was not in the room anymore, now she was on an open field, with the moon and the stars over her "I know love will find a way. Anywhere I go I'm home if you're beside me." She sang with all her heart, with all her feelings "Like dark turning into day. Somehow we will come through, now that I found you. Love will find a way."

* * *

Back on the sharpteeth terrain, inside a cave, was Nick. His hands and legs had been tied to a boulder, making him unable to move or escape. He had gashes and bruises all over his body due to have been Red and Jackel's personal punching bag in the last hour. His head was lowered, but his spirit was not broken yet. His thoughts went to Lily. Her memory gave him strength, he raised his heads and sang "I was so afraid. Now I realize: love is never wrong, so it never dies"

Then suddenly he wasn't on the cave anymore, he was in an open field with the night sky over his head, right in front of him, a few feet away, was Lily. He smiled and sang "There is a perfect world shining in your eyes." And as they walked to one another they sang together "And if only they could feel it too, the happiness I feel with you."

They reached for one another and took their hands together, Nick taking hold of one of the flowers Lily had as they sang "They'd know love will find a way. Anywhere we go we are home, if we're there together." They looked deep inside one another eyes as they sang their heart's out "Like dark turning into day, somehow we will come through. Now that I found you love will find a way."

They shared the last moments together as they sang "I know love will find a way."

* * *

Lily opened her eyes again, she was back in the rock room. In her and there was only one flower.

* * *

Nick opened his eyes to find that he was once more tied to the boulder. His head fell from fatigue. In his right hand was one of the white and red flowers Lily was holding.


	55. The Order's Decision

Part VI: Intermission

The Great Valley was a well know place. Even the ones who had never been there themselves had at least heard talk about it. A place full of food and water, where no sharptooth could go in and there was open to anyone who go in. A real paradise for al leaf eaters. But right now was tainted with death and misery.

Fortress Valley was less know. But some sharpteeth had already heard of it. A place much like the Great Valley, where sharpteeth could go in and traine their way of killing. Where leaf eaters were kept only with the purpose of being food. A paradise for sharpteeth, that was governed by a cruel General who started a war.

But, there was another valley. A valley that was even more secret them Fortress Valley, in which only a selected few even knew about its existent. A place that was as big and as alive as the two valleys mentioned before. A place that was still alive and away of the war for now. A paradise for both leaf eaters and sharpteeth.

Yes, both dinosaur species lived in this place. There were longnecks, flyers, swimmers, domeheads, yellow bellies, horned sharpteeth, sickleclaws, threehorns, all the kinds of dinosaurs. Sharpteeth and leaf eaters lived in peace here, calling one another friend. No one hunted other dinosaurs in this place. The sharpteeth ate bugs or fish. They could eat mammals and even feed only on the meat of dinosaurs who had died, it had become a tradition in there.

This was a place where the dream of peace and harmony had come true. This was the Valley of Leaf and Claw.

But, even in this place. The effects of the war happening now could be felt. There wasn't fight between the residents. But all of them could feel that the thing was going bad. Many of them were wondering why they didn't do anything to stop this. They were powerful enough. Actually just a few of them could be enough to stop this war before it had even started. But they just keep there doing nothing.

Just like last time.

But this was now in discussion. Somewhere in the valley, there was a great flat ground, in the middle of it was a great symbol carved on the rock ground: a treestar with a sharptoth's tooth over it. Around it where thirteen rock platforms around it in a half-moon. This place was well-known for being the place were the council meet to make great decisions. In each platform stand one member of the council, and in the other half stood the ones that were going to talk, and, almost always, curious that wanted to see what would happen.

The first to arrive in the place was a Salen. The jade-green sickleclaw stood in the middle of the meeting place, walking from one side to another. He was very impatient. Slowly started to appear anothers. There were the bunch of sextuplets, then appeared Delan the longneck, the sickleclaws Bayron, Heater, Melissa and Hanna, Zera the twocrested swimmer, along with many others. Many of them, who lived in this place, used in some part of their bodies an object that had the same symbol of the stone ground. Be it a ring, a necklace or a belt. Others weren't wearing any resembling object, they were the mates and parents of the others, so they lived along with then in this valley, along with others that received permission to stay.

Soon arrived the members of the council, all of them using something with the symbol. They were only twelve of the thirteen council members: a domehead, a threehorn, a longneck, a crested flyer (like petrie), a spiketail, a bonecrusher sharptooth, a sickleclaw, a clubtail, a tubehead (parasaurolophus), a bellydragger, a runner and a shieldback (Nod's species). They all took their places in the rocks where the council was supose to stay, leaving the rock of the middle open. Salen sighed "So the council has arrived, can we start now?"

"No." said the domehead "Zeiran has not arrived yet." As soon as he said those words, a shadow passed by then from the sky. Salen looked up "Well, he has arrived now." The great form slowly descended from the sky to the central rock in the meeting place.

It was an impressive sight, this creature. It had a ruby-red body scale, with a golden scales on his underbelly and in the membranes of its wings. It stood powerfully on four legs as it's wings found place in his back. His body denoted a very build musculature. In its head were three golden horns; two goat-like horns in the back of his head and one small horn in the point of his nose. In his neck you could see a necklace with the symbol. It was a very impressive flamebreath. It was no other than Zeiran, the head of the council, leader of their valley.

Zeiran then looked down to meet Salen's eyes, and spoke in a firm tone "So, Salen, do you asked for this council reunion?"

Salen normally would bow down to him, but in this situation he was far to concerned to care about formalities "Yes sir, I did." Zeiran eyed him curiously "And why would be that?" Salen then spoke "For we to stop the war that is going on between sharpteeth and leaf eaters."

After Salen said those words the mumbling started, among the council and among the crowd. Zeiran was the only one in silence. He then roared loud to make silence he looked back at Salen and spoke calmly "Salen, this has already be discussed. We already decided not to put ourselves in the middle of it. The spirits don't want this way."

Salen stared back at him. "But... All that we know now. That Chomper has been fooled in acting this way. That he was being controled by magic and manipulated." he said desperately "And now that we know that the darkarians had been behind this the whole time, and that they plan to take over the whole world. We will not ignore this, right?" He looked desperately at the council "Right?"

The council members looked at each other, then back at Zeiran "Salen, I understand your concern. I could say that I share of it. But we just can't act right now." A spark of despair spreaded in Salen's chest. Many on the crowd had the same reaction. Vanny, the fast runner, clenched his fists; smoke started to came out of Bruce's nostrils while his eyes blazed, and Layla seemed about to start crying again.

"So is that so?" Salen asked "We will simplelet it happen like in the time with Slasher?"

Zeiran dug his claws in the ground, then spoke softly with the sickleclaw "Salen, you must understand, the spirits..." But when he was talking suddenly Salen snapped "The hell with the spirits!"

Everyone with the exception of Zeiran gasped as one. They all knew that what Salen had just said was a terrible curse. Zeiran snarled angry at him "What your mouth, little one!" He roared "You have no right of blaspheme like this!"

"So it's a blasphemy to say what you think?" Salen asked "Is blasphemy to say what everyone thinks now? That the spirits are not doing the work they were suppose?" Zeiran looked at him "Salen listen..."

"NO!" Salen snapped at him again "I have listened in silence for far to long, now YOU will listen." Everyone was looking at him like he had gone insane, but Salen didn't care. He didn't even was thinking of what to say, but was like he had planned to say it for a really long time.

The sickleclaw pointed at himself "The reason why I..." He said "The reason why everyone here wanted to join the order was for its goal: to protect everyone and keep balance. And for, someday, make the whole world be like this place." Zeiran was looking at him wide-eyed, no one had ever talked to him like that. "We were teached that all goes around the will of the spirits. Well, this order was created by order of the spirits. A command of them to make a group that would protect the world into the right way, and make it be the perfect world for everyone."

He took a deep breath before continuing "We all vowed by the seven brothers to made a better world for everyone and defeat all the evil. But when the evil arrives then we don't do nothing?" He looked at Zeiran straight into the eyes "This doesn't seem right to me. If the spirits wanted a perfect world so why they don't want us to take part? If we keep here without doing what we were suppose to do, then why do the order even exist? Remember Lydia? She acted without the spirits command and the result you know very well how good it was. We were suppose to take care of everything. Not only search for the stones of cold fire that the spirits send and put then on the Great Stone of Cold Fire. To protect the others, that was what we were suppose to do. With or without the spirits approval."

Everyone mumbled in this, some saying that Salen said what was needed to be said. Some said that he was surely going to be kicked of the order. Some where even expecting Zeiran to attack him. But the great flamebreath stood there, looking at the small sharptooth. "Salen, you..." He started "You..." He then lowered his head and finished "You're right."

Everyone gasped, but Salen said "I don't care what you think, I..." But them he stopped talking when he got what the old smoke bag had said "You... you said I'm right?" Zeiran sighed and said "Yes Salen. You are absolutely right." He looked straight in the eyes of the surprised sickleclaw "This IS the reason why the order exist. It is our goal and our duty. And we must take it no matter the circumstances nor the consequences."

He then looked back at the others of the council. "Everybody agree?" The council was awkward by start, but slowly every one of then said "Aye" agreeing with the matter. The last one was the threehorn, who spoke to Zeiran "But sir, the spirits..." Zeiran quickly intermitted "If the spirits don't like this, then they will surely send us a signal. But now, is time for the Order of Leaf and Claw to act." Then, to everyone's surprise, a happy, ethereal voice talked "So, you finally understand."

Everyone was startled by this voice. Mostly because it was a voice that no one recognized. "Who is there?" asked Zeiran, ready to any problem "Show yourself!" The right between Salen, who turned around, started to form a strange mist, that slowly took the form of a ghostly longneck. She was brown and seemed to be on top of her physical form. Everyone went wide-eyed. They all bowed to the spirit in front of them.

Salen quickly looked at her guilty "M-madam, about what I'd just said. Well I-I was just... I didn't..." But the spirit only chuckled and smiled at him "It's okay young one. You said what was needed to be said." Salen looked at her confuse, then she spoke again "This order was created with a command of the spirits. But we did not wanted for you to wait for another of our commands to do what you're incumbent."

Everyone looked at her "A child must learn things from what the parents say. But, if this child do not learn to make its own decisions, and act on its own will, or it will never be ready to face the world, like an adult must." Everyone keep silence "It's truth that most, if not all the spirits want respect. But we are in no way owners of you, like a parent isn't the owner of its child. If you all want to face the world you must be ready to act on your own accord. You have to learn to walk to take your road."

Everyone think about it. Salen and Zeiran shared a look, and smiled at one another, so Zeiran spoke to her "Thank you. Any other advice?" The spirit longneck smiled and said "I think that Balcan know what to do now." She gestured to the old rainbow face, who was standing among the crowd "Tomorrow sharpteeth and leaf eaters will go for a last battle in the morning. If they do so disgrace and death will fall over all of them." She looked at Salen again "Good luck, we will be watching over all of you." And with that, she finally disappeared.

Everyone stood there for a few seconds, then Balcan walked until Salen and put a hand on his shoulder "You were yourself young one, and followed your heart." Salen then shared a look and a smile with Zeiran, before the great wyrm said "Okay now everyone, finally years of preparation and train will be put in action. Be ready to leave tomorrow before the great circle rises." And with that the crowd quickly went away, more of them members of the Order of Leaf and Claw that were going to get ready for finally act. Zeiran turned to Balcan "Any last requests?"

Balcan smiled at the flamebreath and said "There is only one more thing we will need."

* * *

In another place of the valley it was a great thing. A great stone with the aspect of a great ball of silver material, around this blue flames that were as cold as ice. This stone was composed of numerous smaller stones that had fallen before in ancient time. The gift of the spirits for the order. One of its duties was to search for that rocks and let then fuse to the great rock. The reason why this was so important was because of the material of the rock came the material that formed the amulets, the objects that every member of the order used, and that gave then the spirits blessing.

Zeiran, Salen and Balcan walked to the great rock with the respect that was needed. When they were right in front of it, Zeiran gently put a hand in it and started whispering something that seemed a pray. Then a part of the ball started to do apart from it and form another ball, this one with around 12 foot diameter, and with the symbol of the order in it. It finally separated from the ball ending in Zeiran's hand.

The flamebreath looked at the stone and then at Balcan "Anything more?" Balcan smiled "Yes, it could be a good idea that our members out of our valley to know about our plan" Zeiran nodded and placed the ball on the ground and then put his hand on his amulet. Then it started to shine slightly and make a soft ethereal sound.

* * *

In the place of the sharpteeth, most of them were now sleeping. With the exception of a great purple bonecrusher sharptooth with red eyes. He was still up, looking at the starry sky. Then suddenly one small glow appeared, revealing a necklace on his neck with the symbol. He placed his hand in it and a look of comprehension spreaded over his face as he said "Finally."

* * *

Gris was walking around the caves, most of the alimons were sleeping troubled because of the anxious for the next day. Then Gris noticed that his son was not there. He found him in another cave. "Garick."

The ruby-red alimon turned around by hearing his name and meeting his father "Yes, father?" Gris smiled at him "Too anxious to sleep?" The red alimon nodded Gris put a paw on his shoulder "Be ready son. Tomorrow will be just great." Garick looked back at his father "Yes father. Tomorrow will surely be a great day."


	56. The Order's Intermission

Part VI: Intermission

Rex was still stuck in the wall by the vines. He kept forcing them, and was being able to make them weaker, but yet he was having a lot of trouble to get ride of them. The spirit longneck said that he was going to have help. Well, this help would be very welcome now. Then a voice called his attention.

"Hello again, my dear." At this a fire illuminated the cave. It was Dark Rex again "You!" Rex exclaimed, trying to play that he was still well tied and that the bounds were not breaking "What do you want now?" The dinosaur/dragon hybrid smiled at him. "Oh well, just thinking about letting you know the goods. Two days ago I leaved your friends to a stoneglare." He said with a grin.

Rex eyes widened "You did what!?"

Dark Rex ignored him and said "And this night we arrested a traitor. He was having a romance with a leaf eater. Do you believe this?" He said with a laugh. Rex was surprised by this. Well, this made him remember a lot of Dice and Silence. But he was surprised that something like that could happen in the given situation.

"And now." Dark Rex continued "We are going to decimate the rest of the leaf eaters of this smelly handful of sand that they call valley". And so he laughed. Rex snarled at him "Don't you dare."

Dark Rex laughed again, this time of Rex "So what? You are stuck in here, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." So he leaved, leaving Rex alone again in the dark. The dracovol drooped his head "If someone is going to help me" He muttered to himself "It would be good if it was now."

* * *

The sun rose. It's rays perked over the place known as Great Valley. Once a place of life and safety, now a place of death and desolation. The rays illuminated the group that was marching in the valley. Littlefoot right ahead, followed by close by Sandstorm and Yu, Ali, Ducky and the alimon pack, their shadows darkening the land around then. Littlefoot's face was heavy with anger, and his eyes were narrowed to the point of being slits , and his teeth were bared. The others around him where nervous, even Gorjak, who was peeking on Littlefoot's head, but they tried to hide it.

Not too long after they started they march, the group was jioned by the survivors, leaf eaters all came out of hiding, and joined up with Littlefoot. Many of them lost all or most of their families to the hideous sharpteeth. Nychus and Syna also caught up with the group. The once small group had grown much larger, consisting of both meat-eating and plant-eating animals.

Not too far out in front of them, maybe two miles, Chomper was leading his army towards Littlefoot's army. Walking next to Chomper was Dark Rex. The hybrid smiled almost proudly, walking side by side with Chomper. The army of sharpteeth was larger than Littlefoot's combined group. The majority of the sharpteeth were of the bonecrusher variety. There were several ridgeheads, even more sickleclaws, a handful of Spinosauruses, and a couple of other horned sharpteeth like Chomper and Loc. Hidden among the group was a pair of longclaws, or Therizinosauruses. They normally feasted on vegetation or insects, but they had agreed to join Chomper's army. Chomper wanted them for their uniquely long claws, which stretched for about three feet from the claw root.

Loc was walking close behind Dark Rex and Chomper. All doubt in his mind over these days had faded away into nothingness. They were replaced by arrogance and confidence. With a pack this size, how could Littlefoot and his pesky friends possibly hope to win?

"There they are!" A ridgehead who was near the front announced. General Dark Rex narrowed his eyes, and held out his paw, halting the army. General Chomper held out his paw as well, as if confirming the hybrid's order to stop. Rather abruptly, the pack stopped in their tracks, and some growled, snarled, and snapped impatiently.

"Why are we waiting?" Blueye growled. "They're over there!". Once again the raptor didn't noticed the apprehension on her daughter's face as Sylvia stood right on her side.

"Why don't we charge already!?" Asked a raptor.

"They're just walking pieces of meat!" Came the reply of another raptor.

Littlefoot stopped on a hill, and glared at the sharptooth pack on the other hill. The fields opened up to create a relatively large plain, an open battleground. "There they are..." Came the hiss of Littlefoot, who now stood right in the front of the army. Ready for attack.

Sandstorm walked out into the front, and peered out ahead. He felt a strange feeling in his heart, possibly rage, when he spotted Red near the front of the pack. He tensed up his body, and prepared to lunge forward. Yu stood by, and he felt the same way as Sandstorm when the green raptor spotted Jackel. He prepared to attack on Littlefoot's word.

Spellbound and Shuva were analysing the group in front of them. They could tell that they were in bigger numbers. And by the look of them they were the strongest sharpteeth left. It was going to be a really tough battle.

From a hill close, was standing Gris, with Garick at his side. The alimon had a savage grin in his face as he spoke to his son "Now. When they start fighting I'll send the signal to our troops. They will be so busy with one another that they will never notice us. We will destroy them both and rule this valley."

For several minutes, the two groups just stood there, staring at the other, waiting for the other to make their move. The dark clouds rolled over head, and a loud thunder-clap clashed through the skies. The sound sent a chill through the hearts of both sharpeeth and leaf-eater alike. Others stood unaffected by the deafening roar of thunder as they stared at their enemies, a growing hate emerging in their hearts and minds.

The silence was unbearable for some of the dinosaurs, and they expressed it by growling and snapping at each other, whether they were plant-eater or meat-eater. Finally General Chomper took a step forward, smiling insanely. "So it comes down to this!" He said. "Well it's over for your free life, plant-eaters! Why don't you go easy on yourselves and give up?" He grinned. "I dreamed of this for years."

Sandstorm growled, and opened his mouth to speak, but Littlefoot interrupted. He stepped up to speak. "We will not go down so easily, Chomper!" He declared. "It doesn't matter if you are willing to try make one of your's to seduce one of us. We will fight you! This is your last chance, sharpteeth! Go home!"

Chomper laughed coldly at the longneck's statement. "Well, I think you're talking about the rainbow face you send to seduce one of my hing-ranking man. Why, Littlefoot...we are home!" Lightning flashed, illuminated the carnotaurus's face eerily.

Dark Rex looked behind at his and Chomper's army, and made a gesture. "Come on! Attack!"

The pack of sharpteeth roared and growled in agreement. Showing their long teeth in their jaws, and displaying their talons, they rushed forward towards the group out in front of them. They raced with all their ferocity, and nothing was going to stop them.

Or so they thought.

When they were advancing, the opposite army ready to receive the blow, suddenly there was a bright pink flash between them. The sharpteeth backed away, and so did the leaf eaters. Both Littlefoot and Chomper eyes widened. Both thinking that it was another trick of the other. The alimons were startled by that. It was different from anything they had seen in a long time. And even they, who understood of magic, could not tell what it was.

Gris take a look of shock as he saw that link flash in the middle of the battle "What the-" was all he could say. He did not knew what it was, and surely wasn't expecting for this.

Dark Rex covered his eyes. This was a surprise for him. He didn't remembered had ever seeing something like this in his life.

But the greater surprise was after that quickly flash. When it subsided, in the place was a group of dinosaurs that was not there before. This group consisted of Salen, Balcan, Bayron, Bari, Vanny, Hanna, Ginna, an orange yellow belly named Toofah that used his amulet of the order as headband, a female rainbow face with light blue eyes named Diana who used her amulet as a bracelet on her right arm and, most surprisingly, a pink dracovol with emerald green-eyes, who used her amulet as a necklace.

Everyone was surprised that a group like that had shown in such a way and during the final fight. The group quickly dispersed as Salen gasped and Toofah tried to hold his breakfast in his stomach. Hanna quickly apologized "Sorry guys. Sometimes this mess up with your guts."

Toofah gulped his food back and said "It's okay." His voice was young and full of life "The important is that we arrived here."

"What is the meaning of this?" Asked Chomper, stepping forward. "Who are that Littlefoot?" The longneck looked back at the sharpteeth "I should ask you this Chomper, since most of them are sharpteeth. Is this another of your tricks?"

But before the horned sharptooth could answer, the jade-green sickleclaw took the word "We belong to no side of this stupid war." Everyone one now was looking at them. "We came here to tell you to stop it right now."

Chomper stared at him "And what if I don't want?". Salen stared back at him "Then we are going to force you to stop." His group nodded. Chomper looked at him for a few seconds before bursting in laugh. "Oh, really? And what makes you think that your little group could stop my whole army? Who do you think you are?"

The sickleclaw stood proudly "I'm Salen, the sickleclaw; Son of the Earth, The Walking Earthsake , The Stone and Rock, The Tunnel Maker, The Boulder Mover and The Landslide." He then hold the necklace, showing the symbol "Member of the Order of Leaf and Claw".

Everyone mumbled at those words. Spellbound and Shuva shared a look between them, they had heard many times of stories and legends of every kind, but they never had heard of this order. "Order of Leaf and Claw?" asked Littlefoot, still mistrusting. "I have never heard of such a thing."

Salen looked back at him "Is because we have been a secret for long."

"So why do you show yourself now?" The longneck asked.

Salen looked back at him "Because only now we started using our own legs to walk." He then said out loud to everyone around to hear. "This war is senseless and will only bring pain and misery to everyone. This must stop right now before it gets worse."

"It already has gotten worse." said Yu "Don't you see all the suffering around you? And why do you care?"

Bayron gave him a death-glare "Because it is our mission and our goal. We exist to keep the world and to protect it. And for, someday, make possible to leaf eaters and sharpteeth to live together in harmony."

Chomper laughed again at those words. "You." He said staring at Salen and Balcan "Do you know as ridiculous this sounds? Who pathetic and weak do you look saying something like this? We are stronger that any leaf eater. We deserve to rule over this valley, and they serve only as our food."

Salen stared back at him "It happened in this valley generations ago, as well as in Fortress Valley. And it happens now in our valley. And it is surely a thing that the seven brothers would believe."

"Huh?" Chomper said puzzled. The others all started to mumble between them again, confused. Balcan then spoke "Hold on Salen, remember that they had long forgotten the story." The sickleclaw nodded. "Yes I forgot."

"What story?" Littlefoot asked "Who are the seven brothers?" Balcan chuckled "Tell then Salen. You remember this story better than me, and you know better how to tell." Salen looked at him and nodded, then he started to tell "This is a story that was forgotten in many places for many dinos, but not in our order. We remember and tell this story to remember of our ideals and our goals. This is the story that says about a lot of things. This is the story of the seven brothers."


	57. The Story of the Seven Brothers

Part VI: Intermission

Long ago, the whole world was different. This world was a world in that all the dinosaur species had not appeared yet, so it was very different. This was a world with the sweet air in winch you could even smell the peace.

This was a place where there was beauty, with the great mountains and the fields full of life. But it was too a place of danger were you could die in a quicksand or in a fall from a cliff. In this place, lived a happy family composed of seven brothers. They all looked the same, walking in two legs, two front legs that used for support and as hands, one horn in the tip of the nose, and flat teeth, great for eating the plants they loved so much. But they could eat actually anything, but they would always got plants.

One fateful day, when they were eating in the field, came a great light from the sky, making a light pillar. The brothers were startled by this. The younger of them, the smaller and most timid, quickly jumped behind a rock to hide and stayed there. Then was this powerful, resonant voice that was hard to tell if was male or female. "Do not fear, my sons. We are the spirits. The entities made by the spirits of your ancestors and the ones that lived before. We're admired as you all did so well in the world. So we'll give at each one of you a prize. Tell what you want and be not afraid of being laughed at."

The brothers were hesitant at first, but soon one of them, the oldest, stepped forward and talked to the Great Spirit. "I always wanted to reach in the hingest trees to eat the best leaves on top of them." The spirits smiled at him and said "So this will be." So the body of the older brother started changing.

The other ones watched in amazement as their brother's body started growing bigger. His paws becoming more firm and strong and planting definitely on the ground. His body became bigger and more powerful. His tail elongated. His horn sunk on his nose and his neck stretched. When it was over he was completely different. He looked down at his brothers, now way shorter than him.

"B-brother?" one of them asked. The great creature smiled at him "Yes" he said as he examined his new body "But now you can call me Longneck."

The great spirit then smiled "Who wants to be next?"

Then the second brother stomped forward, he was far the most brave of all. The Great Spirit then asked "What is your wish my son?". Then he answered "I want the ability to fight. I want qualities that allow me to defeat even the greater of the enemies." Then his body to started to change.

His body became larger and more muscular. He didn't become as large as his brother, but was a respectable size. He too turned a four-legged, it growed a shield protecting his neck, and his nose horn become sharper as two more horns sprouted from his forehead. Soon it was over and he inspected his new form. "You may call me Threehorn now."

Soon the next brother stepped in, and said "I want to have a strong body too. But I don't want to be like Threehorn, I want something that allows me to protect myself if someone attacks me." And so his body too changed.

He too become a four-legged for good, and his horn on his nose to disappeared, but this time, plates growed on his back, as four bone spikes formed in the tip of his tail. He inspected the newly formed body, specially the tail, and informed to his brothers "You can call me Spiketail."

It wasn't long before the next one stepped in. "Sires, I always wanted to run fast. I want to run faster than I ever was able before." So his body changed.

Unlike his brothers, his body bended in a way that now he was a two-legged, his legs become more prominent and stronger, his fore-members become thin. In his face appeared a strong, toothless beak, and feathers sprout from several places in his body. When it was over he inspected his new body and made a test. He ran around faster that he had ever ran before, and didn't got a bit tired. He stopped close to his brothers "I'm Fast Runner"

Then the next brother stepped forward. "I wish I could swim better and in deeper waters, but without losing my connection with the ground." Then his body changed.

He became a two-legged, like his brother, but bigger. He inspected his new body and tested by swimming in the lake. When he got of he said "Call me Swimmer"

Then it was the turn of the next brother. He stepped forward, but hesitated in talking. What if the spirits said that it was impossible? What if they though of him a fool for having such an impossible wish? "So, young one?" The spirits asked "What is your wish?" He then spoke "I... I wish I could move free on the sky." He expected the spirits to say that was no way of that happening, or even laugh at him, but instead they only said "So it will be." Then he changed.

His body become thinner and lighter, as his tail shrunk until it almost vanished. The horn on his nose disappeared as his muzzle turned into a beak, and his forelimbs become arms, with a membrane connecting them to the torso. When it was over he inspected in amazement at his new body. Then he flapped his wings, hoving over the ground, so he took to the skies, flying around his brothers. He let out a content laugh. Then he landed on Longneck's head and said "My name is Flyer."

The spirits saw that the brothers were happy with their new forms, so they departed. That was when the younger brother came out of the hiding "No, wait!" He had been hiding the whole time, watching in amazement as his brothers were changed to be able to fulfill his wishes. But he had forgotten that he needed to be seen by the spirits to have his wish fulfilled. But now was too late, they were gone. His head dropped.

Flyer, feeling his brothers sadness, flew to his side and put a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry." He comforted "I'm sure that when they perceive that they forget about you they will came back to give you a wish." His brother tried to smile at him, but the moment quickly was ruined by Threehorn "Bah! Why would then bother."

Swimmer turned to his brother "Threehorn, how can you say something like this?" "Because is truth." was threehorn blunt answer "He has always been the smaller and weaker of us. he always got into trouble and we always had to save him. He would be nothing without us, maybe that was why the spirits didn't gave him something. And even if they had he would probably still being the smaller and weaker of us."

That was all the younger brother could take. He ran away crying. Fast Runner was about to go after him, but Longneck intermitted "No, he is to sad now to speak with anyone. Just let him alone to calm down, he will come back." Then he turned to Threehorn "And we are going to have a talk."

* * *

The younger brother ran away from the others until a part that they normally would not go. He went inside a cave and lay there, crying. He would never guess that going in that cave would change his life forever.

While he cried, a dark smoke started to lure from inside the cave to around him, then it came those strange voices "What is wrong little one? Why are you crying?" The younger brother looked up to see the black smoke all around him, but he was far to sad and angry to be scared "Because the spirits gave presents to all my brothers, and I was left out. And like it was not enough one of them told me that it was because I didn't deserve anything."

The black smoke them swirled around him and said "Oh, how sad little one. But don't worry. We think that you deserve something, so we will grant you a wish. What would you like?" The younger then though for a few moments, he could ask anything his brothers had asked for, or even more, but his thoughts went back to Threehorn and what he had said, then he made his decision "I want to be powerful. I want the power to fight and defeat my enemies. I want to be feared by the others. And I want the power to make Threehorn gulp his words." The black smoke them said "So it you will have." Then his body started to change. A terrifying change.

His body started to grow and become most muscular, as his feet planted on the ground and his arms shrunk until they were really small. His legs become more muscular, along with his whole body. Then the definitive: his feet and hand claws and his teeth all become pointed and sharper than Threehorn's horns or Spiketail's spikes. Soon it was over, and he inspected his new body. Then the black smoke said "There is what you wanted. Now go for your brothers and show what you can do."

The younger brother grinned and followed to outside, heading towards where he last saw his brothers.

* * *

Back in the field, the others were waiting for their brother to return. They were starting to get worried. Longneck had a serious talk with Threehorn about what he had said to their younger brother, and they were going to continue this talk when he arrived. Then they heard stomping in their direction. They turned around and saw that a creature that they never saw before was heading towards them. And it looked not friendly.

Threehorn and Spiketail quickly took fighting poses in front of the creature. But they were surprised when it spoke with a familiar voice "My, my, this is a way of welcoming you sinbling back?" The others were shocked by this "Brother?" The creature smiled "Yes my brothers, but my name is Sharptooth now."

"What happened to you?" asked Swimmer. Sharptooth smiled, flashing his sharp teeth to all of them see "I found someone who made me the stronger of us all, that's what happened. And now, you can bow down to me."

"Are you insane?" asked Threehorn "There is no way we are going to do such a thing." Sharptooth then snarled angry at him "Do it or I'll kill you."

The others were shocked by hearing this. This thing was really their brother? Their shy, kind brother that would never do anything to hurt anyone?

"Brother, did you heard what you just said?" asked Longneck "This doesn't sound like you. You were not serious right?" Sharptooth snarled at him "And you stay out of this. This is between me and Threehorn." He then turned back at him "So brother, you will bow down to me and see me as your superior?"

Threehorn laughed at him "Force me." Then it was, Sharptooth charged at him with teeth bared. Threehorn tried to counter with his horns, but Sharptooth, who had become swiftly too, dodged the charged and plated a foot on his brother's flank, pinning him to the ground.

"So, Threehorn, what was that again of I being weak?" Was all that Sharptooth said before roaring and biting down at Threehorn's hide. He screamed as the sharp teeth dug in his skin. Sharptooth would had held on stronger if he had not received a blow that made a wound on his flank, making him roar in pain as he let go. He then turned to see Spiketail, who had used his spikes to attack him and let him go of Threehorn.

"You dare to intervening!?" He screamed as he lunged at Spiketail, but he was not able to make contact with him, as his side as his by a powerful tail blow from Longneck. Sharptooth reeled in the ground untill stopping. He got up coughing and looked at Longneck with murder. He was about to say something when he felt something hit him in the face, it was Flyer beaking his nose. Sharptooth clawed trying to hit him, but missed all.

"Brother stop this!" Longneck screamed "This is not you." But Sharptooth roared louder "I'll kill you all!"

He was about to charge again, but in this moment the sky darkened and a thunderous voice screamed "STOP!" It made everyone stop on their tracks, it were the spirits again.

"You!" said Sharptooth "What are you doing?" The spirits answered angry "We should be asking this to you, Sharptooth! With what right do you think you can rule or attack your own brothers?"

"With the right that you took from me." He snarled at the sky "I was the only one left without nothing. All the others gained their gifts, but I was left out." The spirits spoke again "Sharptooth, do you know why we left without giving you your gift?" Sharptooth answered "Yes, because you thought that I deserved nothing." Then the spirits answered "No! It was because we wanted you to discover that you deserved."

Sharptooth's eyes widened "What?"

"You always was the smaller of the brothers, and always had to be saved. But yet you always got a strong will and a strong spirit, and a kind heart." The spirits said to him "And for that traits you deserved a wish like all your brothers. But you didn't realized that you were really strong, like all your brothers did, so we decided wait to you discover this to give you your gift." Sharptooth was speechless for a few moments, then the spirits spoke again "But look what you have done. You accepted a gift from dark, evil spirits, and used this gift to try take your own brothers lives."

Just in this moment Sharptooth seemed to realize what he had just done. With horror in his eyes he noticed that he had really tried to take the life of his own family. He saw their looks of fear towards him, and he saw Threehorn's wounds made by his teeth, and he realized, terrified, that he could still feel the taste of his blood in his mouth. The the spirits spoke again "You tasted of the blood and flesh from your brother, now from now on you, while you walk in the living, you will have to eat flesh to survive."

"No!" Screamed Sharptooth "Please, I'm sorry.". He pleaded them, but the spirits were relentless "For now on if you want to live you will kill and eat other creatures. Now go, leave this place now Sharptooth."

The poor Sharptooth, once again leaved crying, letting his brothers behind as he ran away, now having to face the world alone.

* * *

Later Sharptooth was far away. Next to him was a carcass of a recently made kill, his face and claws stained with dried blood. He looked to the side to a tree. Hesitantly he tried a bite of its leaves. It tasted horrible! He quickly spat up and went to lick the carcass to get hide of the taste. In this moment he realized that he would never be able to eat plants again, so he would never be able to live in peace with his brothers again, it if they would ever consider forgiving him. He then started to cry again. That was when he heard someone call him "Brother."

Sharptooth turned away to face his six brothers. They were all facing him, but they didn't seemed angry, they seemed to be sad, well, except for Threehorn, that seemed indeed angry. "Brother." Longneck spoke "We came here to talk." Sharptooth looked at him, and then turned his look away "I'm sorry." He said crying "My behaviour was inexcusable. If you want to scream at me and say that you don't want to see me ever again I'll understand."

Threehorn seemed about to say something, but a quickly glance from Longneck silenced him. Then he spoke "Sharptooth, we came here to say that is everything okay." Sharptooth looked at him "What?" Longneck sighed and said to him "Brother, you were sad and angry, and so you acted without thinking. It wasn't really your fault."

Sharptooth looked at them "But... I tried to kill you." Fast Runner so spoke "Yeah, and so? You are still our brother." Flyer than landed on his nose "No matter what happens you are still being our brother." So it was Swimmer turn to talk "We lived to much together to let something like this to do us apart." Then Spiketail talked "Yeah, we are a still a family." Then they all turned to Threehorn, who sighed and said "Yeah, I think we are still relatives after all."

Sharptooth looked at his brothers. He never knew that his family cared so much about him. He never knew. And neither did the spirits, as they said from the sky "You are willing to forgive your brother, even after all that happened?" Five of them answered "Yes" Threehorn took a few moments, but he too said "Yeah, why not?" The spirits considered this and asked "Sharptooth, you are really regretted of your actions?"

"Yes, I am" He said without a moment of hesitation "Can I go back to eat plants?" He asked hopeful, but the spirits answered sadly "It's not that simple. We cannot undo what is done." Sharptooth lowered his head in sadness "But, we can tell you that, we can work for the future, for your descendents to be able to live in peace with one another. with our help, and yours when you join us here, this can happen." And so the spirits leaved again. leaving the brothers alone.

Sharptooth looked uncertain at his brother "So, what happens now?" Longneck sighed "I guess that we are now follow each one our way." Sharptooth's eyes widened "But, if you leave I will be alone, and I don't want it." Longneck smiled at him "We cannot protect you forever. You have your own legs, now use them to walk."

And with that they turned around, but sharptooth had one last question "And if we meet again?" Longneck turned slightly to look at him "You are always going to be our brother. And someday our descendents will play, laugh and live together like we used to. It may not be soon, but it will happen. We will always be a family" He then turned away to leave along with the other six, leaving Sharptooth alone, but he was not crying anymore, in fact, he was smiling. His heart was far lighter now.


	58. The Power of the Order

Part VI: Intermission

"Is that." finished Salen. "This is the story that is told in our order."

All dinos stared at them for a few moments in silence, then Chomper started to laugh harder than he probably had already laughed in his life. Rex joined him and soon all the sharpteeth were laughing. "That." Chomper said, laughing so hard that he was having problems to breath "Was the most absurd and ridiculous thing that I ever heard in all my life."

Bayron then stepped forward "Do you dare laugh of the teaching of our order?" Chomper just keep laughing "Yeah, because it is all too ridiculous." Then Vanny, the fast runner stepped forward "Is funny to you to say that our teachings are ridiculous considering te ones you got from Slasher" Chomper stopped laughing almost in the same moment and looked straight at the dinosaur, Vanny only smiled and continued "He was a despising dino, he could only be happy when e made others suffer, and had to cowardly hurt another's to feel that he was strong. He was pathetic."

Chomper roared in fury "Talk about my father again, fast runner, and I'll rip out our guts and make you see me eat them." Vanny glared back at him "There is no one stopping you." Was the only thing he said before charging forward. He quickly run across the ground and jumped, his foot outstretched to deliver a kick. But he didn't had chance to do, as Chomper quickly dodged and grabbed him by the tail, he then slammed im against the go]round and clawed him in the face, before kicking him, sending him reeling in the ground.

When he stopped he got up, a few bruises and gashes in his body. "You acted with hot head again Vanny" Said Balcan's voice "You really need to think better before you act." Vanny smiled at him "Thank you for the advice, old man."

Chomper glared at the fast runner "Rex." The dinosaur/dragon hybrid looked at him. Chomper rettributted the look with a dark grin "Burn him to a crisp." Dark Rex just grinned and stepped forward and opened his mouth. It could be seen an orange glow forming inside. The sharpteeth were curious, the leaf eaters and the alimons seemed terrified. No one noticed that the order seemed calm, and Vanny was actually smiling.

Then he shoot a fireball from his mouth. It went straight to the fast runner, who didn't moved out of the way. It hit him square, bursting into flames. Everyone backed away scared. The sharpteeth were smiling, know that he had a great power on their side, and the leaf eaters and alimons sneered, knowing that the chances now were almost impossible. Only the order remained tranquil.

Chomper then laughed "You see? That is what will happen with the ones that stand in our way. No one can stop us now. We are superior, we deserve to have it all and-" He would have continued his talk, but was interrupted by another voice. Vanny's voice "They say that when someone offers you a meal you should at least be polite."

Everyone's eyes widened and they turned to the fire that was still burning, and they could see a shadow inside of it with the shape of a fast runner "But I have to say that this fire of yours taste really horrible."

Chomper was shocked and speechless, but not more shocked than the others, but ultimately, not even a quarter shocked than Dark Rex. They watched as the fire danced in its place, and then it seemed to be sucked to the fast runner's mouth. As it went to inside his belly seemed to grow, like he was actually eating the fire! When he was finished, then his belly was big, but soon steam came out of his nostrils and from the gashes on his body and his belly shrunk back to normal. When the steam stopped coming out, the gashes and bruises in him were now completely healed.

When Vanny was finished he wiped his beak like someone who had just ate and looked at the shocked bunch of sharpteeth in front of him "Yeah, tough it was awful, this meal got me ready to another." The he hit his fists in one another, making them go aflame. Startling all the army who was seeing it. Dark Rex just stood here wide-eyed "T-thats impossible! Attack!" The army refused to go forward, but some, the most brave, or maybe the most crazy, got forward. But quickly regretted.

Vanny then put his two fists one in front of another in front of his beak, and blow through then. In the opposite side formed a stream of fire that set fire on the ground, making the sharpteeth stop on their tracks with terrified looks and stumbled back. The fast runner grinned, in this point the pink dracovol stepped forward. "Okay Vanny, don't need to kill then all of fear." Vanny looked back at her with a smile "It's okay Lara, I know what I do."

In this moment Dark Rex recovered from the shock. "You, you are going to die! I'm, going to kill you!" Lara smiled at him "Just try, ember spiter." The hybrid roared in anger as he breathed another fireball. This one direct to the dracovol.

Lara, like Vanny, didn't tried to dodge, but firmed her legs on the ground. The fireball hit her directly, covering her body in flames that licked her. Dark Rex smiled, but his smile died down when the fire subsided, showing that the pink dracovol didn't had a single burn. "This is the best you can do?" She tainted him.

Dark Rex once again roared in fury "Attack! Kill them all!"

Incredible as it sounded, some sharpteeth actually stepped forward, one of them was bonecrusher sharptooth that went straight to them, and tried to crush them with his foot. In this moment, Ginna, the egg stealer ran forward, right to under the sharptooth's foot. Everyone expected her to be crushed to death, but once again they were surprised.

She stopped the foot with her hands. A small, skinny egg stealer actually was able to stop a stomping foot of a sharptooth only with her bare hands! But it didn't was just like that. Then she shifted her body and, holding the sharptooth by the foot, slammed him against the ground. Then she took a better hold of his foot and swing him over her head and let go. The poor thing was throw almost 60 feet of distance and landed with a thud.

The alimons jaws dropped. Not even an alimon was that strong! And that little dino could make it look easy! Who were they?

The sharpteeth then backed away, but some proceeded. Then it was Hanna's turn. She disappeared in a flash of pink light, then she reappeared again in the middle of the sickleclaws, startling them. He used this to her advantage, she head butted one and then kicked another in the leg, making him go down. Another horned sharptooth tried to attack her, but she materialized a pink glowing crystal in her hand and throwned it in the sharptooth. as soon as it made contact the whole sharptooth was enveloped in pink light and disappeared in a flash. Then he reappeared again five yards away, and looked around confused.

Another sickleclaw tried to sneak her from behind. He then jumped at her. But, before he could make contact, a fist connected with his face, sending him reeling to the ground. The fist was connected to an incredible long arm, whose owner was 20 feet away, and this arm was stretched. The the arm recoiled back to his owner, Toofah, the yellow belly. He smiled and then raised his leg and kicked. His leg stretched around 30 feet and his foot connected with another sickleclaw's stomach, sending him to the ground.

Another sickleclaw, wide-eyed of the stretched leg in front of him, then tried to bite it before it recoiled, but a purple blur hit him square in the jaw. It was Bari, the runner. He then started to move again, he was visible only as a purple blur, his speed should be around 500 miles per hour. He hit around 17 sickleclaws, all at least 25 feet away of one another, in just 3.7 seconds. Then he stopped moving and grinned.

One sickleclaw was facing Diana, the rainbow face. He went straight to her with his jaws open. But instead of trying to dodge, Diana stood her ground as her body changed. The Sharptooth's jaw made contact with her body, and many of his teeth had fallen out. Diana's body had become an almost indestructible crystal! She then hit the sharptooth with her tail, knowing him out cold.

Three sickleclaws and one longclaw were surrounding Bayron, the sickleclaw, then the longclaw made a move. He went to Bayron with his claw raised, ready to make a blow. Bayron's eyes narrowed at him then something happened. The longclaw then held his own head and screamed in pain, he fell to his knees and soon collapsed unconscious on the floor. The sickleclaws backed away at this, then Bayron's eyes turned to them.

In this moment the faces of two of the sickleclaws gone blank and the turned to the third, who looked back at them confused. Them, without warning, they head butted him together to unconsciousness and turned back to Bayron, who narrowed his eyes, and then the sickleclaws too feel unconscious. Bayron only "Humph"ed and turned his look away.

Salen and Balcan were only watching. Those were the gifts gave to the order, the blessing of the spirits to the members of the order to keep the peace. Balcan would stay out of the fight as his abilities were not very useful, and Salen would only got in if it was really necessary. The sickleclaw spoke to the rainbow face "Do you think the others are doing good in Fortress Valley?" Balcan smiled "Don't worry. I think they're doing really good."

* * *

Back in Fortress Valley, a bunch sharpteeth flyers were patrolling around, and he was startled when a strange group appeared from nothing. It was a crestless swimmer (maiasaurus) with his amulet as a necklace, who was with Bruce, the fast bitter, Denise, the rainbow face, Lena, the yellow belly and Tim, the domehead. They looked around and Tim said "So, this is Fortress Valley. This place is actually nice." He then turned to the shocked flyers "Hey you! Were are the prisoners? We have to free them and take them to the Great Valley to when we win the war."

By hearing this the two sharpteeth flyers snapped out of the dazzle and the first of them went straight to Tim, who only sighed. The sharptooth was so concentrated in attacking him that didn't noticed that his body had become metallic and shiny. He connected his body with his with a metallic thud, and fell unconscious from the hit.

The other sharpteeth were shocked by seeing his friend fall by hitting the domehead, but quickly snapped out of it and went to, this time for the crestless swimmer. But was stopped by a stream of fire that was shoot from Bruce's hand. He stumbled backwards scared, then it happened something even stranger. Bruce's body turned into black smoke and flew after the flyer.

The flyer, more scared than ever, tried to escape the smoke, but it quickly enveloped him. The smoke made him choke, and in a few moments he was feeling light-headed for the lack of fresh air. Soon he fainted, and would have fallen if the smoke had not become partially solid to held him and place him on the ground. And so it reformed on Bruce's solid body.

Another of the sharpteeth flew and landed in front of Lena, who only smiled at them "Hello boys, how do you feel?" Almost in the same instant that she made this question they both started to feel a strange heat in their bodies, and some strange happiness that made them smile. In this moment their only thought was that the yellow belly in front of them was the most perfect and beautiful creature they had ever seen. She blow a kiss of them, their minds fluttered in pure bliss and they fall unconscious to the ground.

The last sharptooth stood there in the air, Denise looked straight at him and raised her hands, in front of her appeared a head of a flamebreath that roared at the flyer, making him scream in fear, in this moment Tim hopped and grabbed the flyer, then he landed and knocked the flyer out by hitting him slightly in the head, the image of the flamebreath's head disappeared in thin air, like it had never existed. Tim smiled at his friends "So, let's go, we need to free the prisoners."

* * *

"And the others in those places you told then to go?" asked Salen again. "Why was this so important?" Balcan only smiled again at him "You'll see. They will surely be alright."

* * *

Back on the cave were happened the incident with the stoneglare, in the outside, Pterano was still hugging his nephew's body. He had been there all night, crying over him. Maybe seeing his last family die had taken what was left of sanity on him. This was what he had though when he saw three dinos appear from nothing in a poof of smoke. They were a threehorn with a amulet like a ring on his nose horn, Heater, the sickleclaw, and a light-gray egg stealer with light-brown eyes who was using an amulet in his right hand as a ring.

Pterano was startled by the newcomers, but didn't moved or let go of the body. Heater noticed him and approached "What happened?" She asked shocked, Pterano glared back at her in anger "Like you didn't knew!" He screamed "Your people did this to him!" Heater backed away at the flyer's reaction, but she suppose that it was normal to act this way in the given situation. She looked around and saw a pile of broken stone, that remembered a form of a creature all broken, her eyes widened "Stoneglare." She said to herself. So that's why Balcan had sent they there.

She then looked to the cave and went straight at it, the threehorn followed, letting the egg stealer alone with the flyer.

She went inside and found a petrified spiketail. She looked around but it was the only thing in the cave. She sighed and put herself in front of him, looking straight to his face. Then her pupils narrowed to slits and her eyes shone. Then something happened to the stone spiketail. His body then started to regain color, and the once stone softened, slowly turning back into flesh. The heart started bumping again, blood started flowing again, and the eyes gained color once more. When it was over the spiketail screamed "Whata?"

"Okay, okay relax." Assured Heater "You're safe now." Spike was shocked to see a sickleclaw, the last thing he remembered was the stoneglare looking him straight in the eyes, and now he was here. He tried to get up, but th pain in his not fully healed wounds make him go down. Heater approached him and checked the wounds. "C'mon, we have to take care of this."

Outside, the egg stealer tried to approach Pterano, but he noticed this "Get away." He threatened "You will not violate this body." Pterano had heard many times of the egg stealers that, in hunger, feasted in the corpses of the already dead, and he was not letting this one had a meal with the rests of his family.

The egg stealer them was thinking about backing away, but then he heard a voice as his amulet started to shine. _Don't back away now_ The voice said _You can help him. You can fix this_. The egg stealer looked around confused, them focused his eyes in the mortal rests of the flyer that the other was holding, then he gave some hesitant steps forward.

"Hey Jimmy." Heater said as she approached with the spiketail walking with the help of the threehorn. "Somebody here needs your help." When they arrived Spike's eyes bulged when he saw what was left of his friend "Petrie! What you monsters done to him?" He snarled angry at the bunch, but Jimmy, the egg stealer ignored this and kept approaching the body. He didn't knew why, but he had a feeling that he should do this. Then, he put his right hand over the chest of the corpse, then his ring amulet shine stronger and something happened.

The lower part of the body started to reform! First the bones were slowly reappearing, then were followed by the muscles, and finally the skin covered everything, and all the bruises that had in the body and the damage made by maggots went away. The others watched it all amazed. Then the flyer opened his eyes gasping and looked around "What happened? Where is stoneglare?" Then his eyes stopped in the flyer next to him, who was looking back in shock. Petrie to looked shocked "Uncle Pterano?"

He only stared back "Petrie?" Then they both exclaimed together "You're alive!" Then they hugged each other. While this the other three stared at the whole scene. "Jimmy" Heater said looking at the egg stealer "I didn't knew you could do that." The egg stealer, stunned, looking at his amulet, winch was still shining, and looked at her "Me neither."

* * *

"You." Said Dark Rex "I'll kill all of you" He said then before shooting three fire balls, one after the other, towards the order. Then Vanny came fast and put himself in the way. He stopped the first fire ball with his bare hands. Then the other two hit, making it grow bigger. Then he put his beak in contact with the ball of fire and sucked all the fire. Again his belly grew bigger before he let a generous amount of steam come out of his nostrils and ears, making his belly shrunk back at normal. Then he looked straight at the hybrid in front of him. "No one attacks my friends!" He exclaimed angered.

Dark Rex snarled ant take flight, but it was useless. Vanny gave a powerful jump with his legs, easily reaching him, and them, in an amazing show of strength, kicked the dinosaur/dragon hybrid in the face, sending him to the ground. He hit the ground with a thud and reeled through it before stopping and trying to get up again.

"Bite more than you can chew, big guy?" Asked a voice, he looked to see Lara in front of him smiling. He then roared furious and grabbed the dracovol with his clawed hand and brought her to his mouth and tried to chew her. He expected to be easy to chew that little dino, but, once again he was surprised to find that her skin, that he had felt so soft under his hand, was now hard as rock, two of his teeth had even fallen out.

"To hard to chew?" Lara asked "You have seen nothing yet." Then she used her hands and feet to open that mouth and came out, then she kicked the creature right on the nose, making him stumble backwards and cover his nose in pain. Everyone was utterly shocked. The sharptooth army, before so sure about their victory due to the flamebreath, was now having doubts about actually winning.

Dark Rex quickly recovered "I... I'll not be defeated by a bunch of ridiculous saurians." He snarled "I'll kill all of you." Lara then take flight "Bayron!" She called "Could you please bring this guy down? We better hurry up with this." Bayron nodded at her and narrowed his eyes at the creature. Dark Rex then felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, like someone was trying to compress his brain.

* * *

Rex was still stuck in the wall, when suddenly the cave started to shake and crack in some places.

He was startled by this. Would the place fall? And what would be of him? What was happening to cause this? In this moment he closed his eyes in fear and screamed "Someone help me!"

* * *

Bayron was focusing his mind to bring the hybrid down, when he heard a voice that was different from the hybrid, but yet was coming of him. _Someone help me!_ By hearing this voice he stopped focusing, and so the pain in Dark Rex head subsided, and he was now getting up and walking towards Bayron, who he though being the one who caused him that pain.

"Bayron what happened?" asked Lara "Bring him down!"

Bayron ignored her and focused again on the hybrid's mind, hearing again the same voice _Someone take me out of here!_ He then looked straight at the creature heading towards him. "You are not the only one in there." He said. Dark Rex only snarled at him "Who are you keeping there inside?"

Dark Rex then lunged at him, but Bayron closed his eyes in concentration and the creature gasped as it felt a pressure in his head, like something was trying to go inside his skull. "What are you doing?" asked Dark Rex, falling to his hands and knees. Bayron then slowly walked to him, and when he was close enough, he put one of his clawed hands in his own head, and the other in Dark Rex's head. Then both dinos pupils narrowed until they were nothing more than vertical lines in their eyes. Bayron had gone inside.

* * *

In the place Rex was stuck in he suddenly felt a gust of air, and two creatures, the Dark Rex, and a gray sickleclaw went flying through the cave. The creature fell hard, while the sickleclaw landed on his feet. Rex looked scared at him, and then the sickleclaw looked at him.

"Don't be afraid, young one." He said "My name is Bayron, and I came here to help.


	59. Mental Combat

Part VI: Intermission

Rex was stunned. First the cave started to shake, like an earthquake had just happened, then there was a sudden gust of wind, and now, the creature that got him stuck there and a sickleclaw appeared. "Who are you?" He asked the sickleclaw, who answered "Like I said, my name is Bayron, and I came to help." By saying this he climbed the vines and used his teeth to bite down at the ones that were holding Rex. The vines were tough, but due to Rex struggle they had gone loose enough to be bite off. Rex was free.

Rex fell to the ground and massaged his wrists "Thank you" he said to Bayron, whose answer was "Don't thank me yet. There is still a problem to go." His eyes were fixed on Dark Rex, who was getting to his feet.

"You" He snarled "How can you get inside this place? This is impossible." Bayron smiled "Didn't you got it already?" He tainted "For the Order of Leaf and Claw, nothing is impossible."

Dark Rex then roared out loud "It doesn't matter that you are free now." He said to Rex "Nor it matter that he is going help you. This place is still being mine." Bayron noticed that from the cracks that had formed on the walls there was light coming out, like the day hidden outside, he then smiled "Oh, really?" He then made a gesture towards the cracks, making the wall tremble and they grow.

"What are you doing?" Dark Rex said in a desperate tone. Bayron only proceeded to made gestures to the walls and ceiling, making the cracks grow and the light go inside the cave. "Hey, Rex." Rex turned to him "How do you know my name?" Rex asked "Hey, want to talk or to defeat this guy? Bring him to the light."

Rex nodded and went to the creature and grabbed its arm, Dark Rex laughed "Ha, do you think you can defeat me?" Bayron saw that and made a crack in the ceiling above them, making the light hit Dark Rex "What is this?" He asked stunned "My strength has faded." Rex smiled, Yeah, and mine has increased." Then with a sharp pull, he brough the dinosaur/dragon hybrid to the light, then a flash engulfed them.

The whole cave crumbled down, revealing a blinding light, when the light died down, they could see a new place. It was an open field with dark, thunderous clouds above them, roaring furiously, around the place was the filled with hills, cliffs, plateaus and mountains

Rex and Dark Rex could easily hove over the place. Rex though of holding Bayron, but, to both Rex and Dark Rex surprised, the sickleclaw too could fly, and without wings! "How can you do that?" Rex asked amazed to the sharptooth floating on the air. Bayron shrugged "This is not the real world. In this place normal rules do not apply to certain people."

Before they could say another word Dark Rex send a blow with his claw, Bayron dodged, but Rex barely did, leaving a cut his face. Bayron then received a kick from the creature that send him flying to hit against a mountain. Dark Rex laughed "Hah, you see, even with his help you cannot defeat me."

Rex stopped in a mountain and touched the wound, he recoiled in pain, this was going to leave a mark. But before he could actually think about it, Dark Rex grabbed him by the throat, making him choke "Now." The creature said grinning "Is time to do what I should have done in the start."

But Rex never saw what he was going to do, cause before he could he tumbled away, letting Rex go, like he had been hit with strength. Rex quickly recovered and saw Bayron floating. The sickle claw narrowed his eyes, and then Dark Rex was throw backwards, like hit by something really heavy. "It's our chance Rex!" Bayron said "Lets attack."

Then both gone to the monster. Rex used the momentum of his charge to headbutt the creature in the chest, driving the air out of his lungs, at the same time, Bayron attacked the face with his claw, making a surprising big cut. Then he kicked the creature in the face, sending him flying backwards to it a mountain's top and hold in there for footing.

He was surprised that the sickleclaw was that strong. Both him and Rex were smiling "Hah, who is not strong enough now?" Rex tainted "You need to be stronger than that to defeat us." Dark Rex then smiled "Oh, really? Then lets see what do you think of this!" Then his body started to change.

Rex and Bayron's eyes widened as Dark Rex started to grow even bigger at the same time it's neck stretched. His body changed to be more like the one of a four-footer, and his wings grew wider. His face became more prominent and his tail gained talons and two horns grew in his face. He had growth to an enormous size. The new formed flamebreath opened his eyes and roared at them. This was the beast real form.

Then the creature swept his front leg at them, hitting them with his paw and sending the two flying away. Rex would have fallen from the impact if Bayron had not took hold of his arm for him to recover. The air had been drive out of his lungs by the strength of the blow, and he was sure that at least two of his ribs had been broken. Bayron to had not gone unscratched, as the side of his body was darkened by the place were the blow hit and there was blood coming out of his mouth.

The creature went to them saying "You're mine now!" But before he could reach them, Bayron let out of his hand a force blast that hit the creature right in the middle of it's eyes, making him go dazed. He took a few moments to recover from this. And when he did Rex and Bayron were out of sight.

He looked to the sides. They could not had came out without defeating him, and they knew this, so they only could be hiding in there "Little ones" He called "Come out, I'll find you two anyway, so why resisting? Came out now and I may even let you two lived." He lied, flying around and searching for them with his sharp sight.

Bayron and Rex were now hiding under a cliff. Bayron was watching, seeing the big flamebreath fly around with his powerful body, and Rex was resting in the sore of the mountain, massaging his chest to ease the pain of the blow. "So, he is gone?" He asked, Bayron then answered "No. And even if he got away, the only way of escaping of here back to the real world now is defeating him."

"But how can we do this?" asked Rex "He is too powerful." Bayron though for a few moments. What if... Yeah, this could work. He never actually tried, but it could be their only chance. He turned to the dracovol "Rex, you think you can keep him busy for sometime?" Rex looked at him "Well, maybe. Why?"

"I have a plan, but I need time to do it, and while I need him busy." Rex looked at him, and then sighed "Okay, but is better your plan not be run away while I distract him." And with this Rex came out of the hiding "Hey, fatty!" He screamed, granting the flamebreath to look at him "You're carrying a mountain in your back or is it your butt?"

The flamebreath roared in fury before shooting a fireball straight at Rex, who quickly dodged and flew fast, with the flamebreath on his tail. Bayron then took this chance and put his hands in front of his chest and closed his eyes in concentration. Then a shape started to form between his hands, something like a crystal spike made of light.

The flamebreath tried to attack Rex in all ways, if he was too far to deliver a blow he would breathe flames over him, and if he was close he tried to attack with his claws, tail and jaws. There was one time he almost bite Rex with his enormous fangs, each as big as Rex body. While this, Rex wasn't actionless, he dove towards the dragon's face, specially the eyes.

Rex brought out his taloned feet in front of him, and dove directly towards the giant eye that belonged to the dragon shifted his gaze towards the dracovol, and grinned. He opened up his huge wingspan. Rex's concentration was broken as he stared at the enormous wings. They looked like they could fit across the valley's length of the Great Valley! Temporarily distracted, Rex couldn't react when the monster's tail came out of nowhere and struck him in the side. Rex yelled in pain when he was knocked out of the air. He crashed down in between two large rock formations.

The giant flamebreath roared ferociously as he bent down and lashed out. Rex closed his eyes, waiting for the pain of the teeth close in around him, but when he opened up his eyes, he realized that the flamebreath's head was too large to fit in through the crack. The dragon snarled impatiently as he tried to fit his snout in.

Rex grinned smugly as he walked up to where the mouth was only a few inches from him. "See? Bigger is not always better." He laughed and slashed across the giant's snout.

Yelping, the giant lifted up his massive head and let out a roar. A few trickles of blood ran down the front of his snout. But they looked like only minor scratches to the giant! Rex flinched and backed away. His larger claws on his feet would do a bit more damage, but they'd still not be enough to produce a wound that would even be considered an annoyance to this flamebreath.

'Man what am I going to do?' Rex thought as Dark Rex lowered his head back down. The creature opened up his mouth, as if to speak, but instead of words coming out, flames came out instead. Rex screamed and took into flight, and screamed again as the tip of the flames singed the tip of his tail.

"You are no match for me, weakling!" The dragon bellowed. As Rex flew away, the dragon took to the air as well. He was like a giant ship trying to attack a small rowboat. "Without even fire, you cannot win! Why not just surrender now and make it easy on yourself?" The dragon asked as his huge eye opened up only a few feet away from Rex's flying form. "Or do I have to kill you?"

Rex snarled, and slashed at the eye. Instinctively, the dragon pulled away before the dracovol could do any damage. "I hate you!"

"The feeling's mutual." The flamebreath growled. "You kept me bottled up inside your whole life. You kept me in the shadows, in the confides of your puny mind. You kept ignoring my urges, kept dismissing my calls."

"What are you talking about?" Rex asked, confused. "I've never met you before in my life! Well until you took over my body that is."

The dragon laughed so hard that Rex had to flap his wings as hard as he could just to stay in the one spot. "Don't be so naive, Rex." The dragon said as he stopped laughing, but kept that huge grin on his face. "You've met me before, years ago."

Rex's mind was mixed up with all kinds of questions. What was this moron talking about? Where have they met before? He was just plain crazy! "W-What are you talking about, you overgrown excuse for a smoking mountain?"

The dragon's grin broadened. "Remember Zill?" He hissed through his grinning mouth. "Remember the bloodlust you got at that moment? Remember how you felt as you saw the blood seep through your paws? Remember how you jumped on him and broke his neck? Remember how you tore out his internal organs and ripped apart the body? Remember how you buried your face inside him and ate as much blood and flesh as your small body could handle?"

Rex's face was drained of all color as memories recollected in his head. Vivid memories of the horrid deed replayed itself over and over inside his mind. That was the moment that his life had changed. That kill was the turning point to who he was now. That event nearly led to the extinction of the friendship he shared with Littlefoot and his pals. He gulped nervously, shaking so badly that he lost control of his flight and fell down.

Dark Rex narrowed his eyes slightly and he brought out his giant paw and caught the dracovol. He brought him close. "Remember?"

The dracovol regained his composure, though as he stood up his legs wobbled like they were made of unsturdy quicksand. "Y-Yes...b-b-but what does that have to do with you...? And how did you...how did you know what happened?"

"How could I not know?" Dark Rex smiled. "I'm with you, always. I'm a part of you as you are a part of me, kiddo." He laughed. "And as what it deals with me, well, that wasn't your sharptooth instinct taking over." Rex's eyes widened as big as they could get, and his mouth partially opened. He tried to speak, but no words came out. "Yes, that's right Rexie boy." The dragon leaned in closer. "That was me."

Rex wasn't sure what to think. His mind just went blank. He stared at the flamebreath disbelievingly. Had he heard right? Was this overgrown flamethrower telling the truth? Was this dragon the real culprit to him unleashing his meat-eating side?

"I-It was you...? This whole time...?" He said, shakingly. "I-I unleashed you...back then?" He stammered, unable to think clearly.

"Yes, I used your hunger to allow myself to surface, in a way." Dark Rex explained. "I was tired of being ignored for so long, so I awakened myself. You had no idea of your true potential, Rex. I let you become aware of that, in that instance." The monster licked his lips. "That sharptooth was so tasty..." He looked down at the kid. "Don't you think so, too?"

"SHUT UP!" Rex shouted, jumping into the air. Anger had taken over his mind now. "YOU WERE THE REASON WHY I HAD TO LEAVE THE GREAT VALLEY! YOU WERE THE REASON MY BOND WITH MY FRIENDS NEARLY SHATTERED! YOU WERE THE REASON WHY I WAS FORCED TO LIVE IN THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND!" The last part was a lie. He had CHOSEN to live in the Mysterious Beyond until he found out who he was.

The flamebreath cocked an eyebrow. "Me? Oh no my dear boy. I would not have been able to let myself out if you didn't let me." Rex continued growling fearlessly, a distrustful look on the eye. "It's true. You let your guard down, allowing myself to get free...sort of." He chuckled. "I obviously didn't gain full control. You came to your senses after the episode."

"And I couldn't remember what I did because..."

"...because it was my mind which was in control. When you came to, your mind booted back up with little recollection of what you did." The dragon answered the dracovol's question.

Rex blinked as his mind was taking in this newfound information. But he couldn't lose sight of his goal. He had to defeat this dragon! But how? How! As he stared into the dragon's eyes, he remembered the voice from before. Something about taming the beast...is this what it had been talking about? Was he supposed to somehow 'tame' this beast? Was that the same as destroying? And why was Bayron taking so long?

"What's the matter?" Dark Rex asked, taunting the little dracovol. "Too scared to face the truth? The truth hurts doesn't it?" He chuckled breathlessly.

"J-J-Just shut up..." Rex said, placing his paws on his head. He was trying to think of what mode of action he should take next. As he pondered his, he didn't notice the large paw of Dark Rex getting closer and closer. As he was lost in his thoughts, the dragon swatted down. Rex's mind snapped to reality and he dodged just in time. He could feel the wind rush to him as the paw swept past him and struck the ground. The force was so great it created a miniature earthquake!

"Whoa!" Rex exclaimed. "That was close!" He turned around to face the large dragon. He glared, and gritted his teeth. Just how was he going to win? He looked up around the area. But he couldn't see any source of light. 'Dang it!' Rex cursed. 'How am I supposed to beat him with no light around!' He started to fly away, and he could hear the heavy wing beats of the dragon behind him. Being smaller Rex was able to fly faster than Dark Rex. But Dark Rex was larger. That would pose a problem, forcing Rex to go even faster.

Then Rex heard a voice inside his head "Rex!" It was Bayron "Rex, just listen, I'm finished here, But I'm still having the problem of knowing where to hit.". It was truth, bayron now had a totally formed light spike crystal in his hand. Rex almost sighed in relief, but there was still the problem, but then, he heard another voice in his head "The power to defeat the beast lies in you. It is our gift to you."

Then something happened, around Rex neck appeared a glow, that made even Dark rex stop chasing him and cover his eyes. Bayron's eyes widened. He had only seen something like this two times before in his life. The light around Rex neck then took a form of a necklace, with the symbol of a treestar with a sharptooth's tooth carved. The symbol of the Order of Leaf and Claw.

Rex inspected the thing that had appeared in his neck, but was quickly distracted by the roar of the dragon, who shoot fire on him. Rex, guided by an unknown instinct, raised his hands in front of his body. Then flames formed in them and shoot forward in a stream of fire, that countered the fire of the flamebreath.

Both Rex and Dark Rex were shocked, but then Rex heard Bayron's voice in his head again "Is it! Rex, use the fire!" Rex then quickly recovered and shoot another stream of fire at the dragon. This one hit him directly on the face. The dragon roared in pain, confused that this fire could burn through his naturally fireproof hide. When the fire was gone, Rex could see something forming in the beast's forehead, a mark in shape o "X".

Rex looked straight at the mark, it made him remember of a mark that some alimons he meet in the past had on the shoulder. Then Bayron screamed "Rex!" The dracovol turned around to see the sickleclaw throw something made of light at him. He grabbed it, seeing the crystal spike. "Hit the mark and run." Screamed Bayron again. Rex nodded and turned to the flamebreath, who was too busy holding his burned face to notice what ws happening. Rex then took advantage, went to the head of the beast and, with a fast and graceful move, stabbed the "X" with the spike of light.

The creature eyes widen when he felt the crystal piercing his skin. Rex then let go and saw the spike crystal sank inside the dragon's head. Then the creature started to crack from the point where the crystal entered, at the same time that a strong light seemed to come from inside.

"What is happening?" asked the scared Dark Rex. Then suddenly his head exploded in light, at the same time that a sphere of light started to form and grow, encompassing the creature. Rex, seeing this, turned around and started to fly as fast as he could.

The sphere of light grew enough to encompass all of the creatures body. Rex flew as fast as he could, but the light got him. He was almost all sucked in, leaving only his hand left out. He had already given up, but then,he felt a clawed hand grab his and pull him outside. It was Bayron.

He pulled Rex all the way outside the sphere, then they both stood there,watching the sphere the shrunk, until it disappear in a small point of light.

They stood there, looking at the place where the sphere of light disappeared. Then they turned to one another and Rex asked "We won?" Bayron smiled at him "Yes Rex." He said as the dark clouds started to clean away, and a light of the dawn formed behind them. They turned to it as Bayron said "We're free."

Then the light enveloped them.


	60. Freedom, Allies and Confrontation

Part VI: Intermission

Back at the real world, Bayron took his hand off of the hybrid head, stumbling backwards. For he had been some minutes, but he had actually held the head for just around four seconds. When he let go of the head, the creature to gasped for air, then something happened. The creature started to change. His whole body started to shrink, his wings were no longer ripped in places, the long fangs retracted back to his mouth. At the same time, a bright light formed around his neck. When it finished, there was in front of them a normal young dracovol with a necklace with the symbol of the Order of Leaf and Claw standing there.

All the present dinosaurs were shocked by this sudden transformation, but the members of the order were most shocked to see one of their amulets appearing in the neck of someone who was trying to kill them a few seconds ago. Vanny was the first to speak "What in the world is that?" He asked pointing to Rex neck, to the amulet. Bayron looked to him and answered campy. "Well, it seems that the spirits though of him like being worth."

Then Bari appeared in a blink beside Vanny "Well, calling Bayron. This guy is on Chomper's side, and he just tried to kill us." Bayron turned to him "It was not his fault." He said firmly "He was being controled by an evil force, and now he is free. And the spirits would not give him the amulet and make him part of our order if they weren't sure that he deserved." Then Lara, who was hoving above, came down and helped Rex to get to his feet.

"So, you're on our side now?" She asked him, but before Rex could answer, Chomper's voice came "Rex! What happened? Why did you changed back?" Rex then turned to face Chomper, the big horned sharptooth was surprised to see the eyes of the dracovol blazing with anger "I came back to normal because now I'm free of your madness!" he screamed back, startling the others. In part for the anger in his voice, and most because of the fire that engulfed his body, making he seem like a haunt.

Chomper was far the most shocked of all, he took a few moments to find his voice again "What are you talking about? This was our plan. Our goal is to lead together. What about us?" Rex took one step closer, the fire around his body increasing in strength. He spoke, every word shaking with anger "You threatened to kill Yu to make join you. You made me become a monster and turn against my friends. You betrayed all of us and caused death and suffering to everyone. There is no 'us' you sick bastard, and if there ever was it was because I was out of my mind. I want no part with you or your sick goal. And if you gave one more step and threaten the others again, I'm going to make you suffer."

The sharptooth army backed away in fear, but Chomper just stood there, his face utterly shocked. Rex had betrayed him. He made of Rex his General to lead the army by his side and now Rex was betraying him. This was far worse than any of the previous. Nor Sandstorm, Yu, or even Nick would be that bad. Because none of them made this feeling of betrayal so deep in him. And none of them had ever made this... pain... on his chest, like his own heart was being teared in half, and now he was fighting back tears.

"W-wha... You..." Chomper tried to speak, barely finding his voice. "You... YOU DARE BETRAYING ME!?" he roars, making everyone back away "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He charged at Rex, fangs bared and face contorted with anger, what distracted everyone of the few tears that escaped of his eyes. Rex firmed himself in the ground and the fire in his body grew stronger. He was ready to fight to death. But them, their attention was diverged to the sky by a roar. Rex fire subsided and everyone looked up. And their jaws dropped.

Above then, making circles in the air, was a longneck! Yes, not a flamebreath with wings, but a wingless, big, groundy longneck, hoving above then and slowly making circles in the air towards the ground. Even the alimons were jaw-dropped, Spellbound even mumbled to no one in particular "Now I've seen everything." as the longneck came closer to the ground, they could see that there were some dinos on his back, seven of them, all sickleclaws. They were the sextuplets and Melissa.

The dark-brown longneck gently landed in a strong gust of wind, and turned to the members of the order, that remained unimpressed, due to have seen things like that many times. "So, I arrived in time?" Balcan chuckled "Yes Delan. Just in the right time, like always." The great longneck noticed Rex amulet, then exclaimed "Another member!? Great! New blood is always welcome in the order." Rex only kept staring at him in awe.

Chomper stared at them for a few seconds, them he snapped out of it and roared as he charged at the longneck. Delan them turned to him and, seeing he come in his direction, he blew. The gust of wind that came from his mouth take the strength of a hurricane, and was strong enough to stop Chomper in the middle of the air and threw him back several feet away.

Chomper landed with a thud, then Delan lowered his body and let the sickleclaws get down of his back. Loro then said "Okay now, everyone who wish to have tail kicked, make a line and I'll take one by one." The others could only laugh at their brothers behavior, except for Noro, but the fact was that they were all happy for finally acting.

Chomper then get up from the floor and looked at the bunch in front of him. "I'll kill all of you!" He threatened. The sextuplets shared a look and them took position. Toro, Noro and Doro made a line one beside another, then Soro and Loro climbed on them, and finally Zoro climbed to the top, forming the pyramid. Then they all were enveloped by a strong light as their shapes melted together. When the light faded, was standing there one single sickleclaw that had all their amulets and scars and was thirty feet tall! Melissa didn't stay behind, she stepped forward and then, to everyone's shock, she started to grow. She grew more and more, until she was around five feet taller than the new sickleclaw.

It was a miracle that with all that was happening the troop didn't turned away running for their lives or had fallen to the ground crying and begging for mercy. Even Blueye, normally so unaffected, was now with shaking legs and heart pounding in her chest, every one of her instinct telling her to run away. The red sickleclaw snarled at them and Melissa gestured. "Come here little guy." She tainted Chomper "Show me what you've got."

Chomper was stunned for a few moments, but he regained his composure "Do you think you scare us?" He said "Do you think we are afraid?" He didn't noticed that many of his troops actually were scared to death "You are wrong. We have planned for far to long to let anything get in our way." Chomper was so absent on his talk that he didn't noticed one purple sharptooth with red eyes walking forward behind him.

"You will not make us retreat." He continued "You will regret being in our way when you all fall in front of us. I shall crush you all under my foot. I-" Chomper was cut out of his speech when he received a sharp kick in the back of his leg, making him fall to his knee. The kick was given by the purple sharptooth, Terry, who walked to Chomper's front and then head butted him, almost making him fall.

"Shut the hell up." Was all that Terry said before walking forwards to join the order. Chomper get up to his feet and looked at him "Another traitor?" Terry looked back at him "Another spy." He corrected, and at the same time the necklace with the symbol of the order became visible in his neck. Chomper only snarled "Still, you are another who betrays your own kind."

Delan, the longneck, laughed "Wow, he really thinks you are a sharptooth Terry." He said to his friend. Chomper was confused by this. "Yah know Terry." Delan continued "Sometimes I'd rather, instead of being able to fly, would like have your ability to shape shift." Terry looked back at him "Don't be so sure. It is strange to be in another shape for too long." He said "By the way." Then his body started to change.

His little arms stretched and became more muscled, as his fingers became talons. His head started to change and became smaller as his jaw became more pointed, at the same time that a shield of flesh and bone formed behind his head over his neck, and two horns sprouted from his forehead as another from the tip of his horn. His body went forward the ground until he was now standing in four legs. It was a muscular and proud threehorn, then he said "You don't know how is good to be back on my real shape after this long."

The sharptooth army was utterly shocked, and if Chomper's jaw could have dropped any further it would have hit the ground. A leaf eater! A leaf eater was able to go inside of their army and put himself on their ranks! And they never ever suspected! Chomper spoke strange, like he had forgotten how to. "W-wha? Who? How? I... I'll kill you!" he snarled in lack of anything better to say. Then he charged forward, but once again his attention was cut off by a screech. Then something landed right in front of him.

Chomper looked at it. It was a flyer sharptooth. Chomper then looked better, and his eyes widened. The sharptooth had a dark brown hide and pallid beak, in the fingers of his right hand there was a ring with the symbol of the order. He looked straight at Chomper with his yellow eyes and then a smile formed in his beak. "Hello Chomper" Greeted Sierra "Did you missed me?"

In a single moment Chomper had gone to extremely furious to scared to death. For much little he didn't lose the control of his bladder. His mind was having difficult processing what was going on. This couldn't be true. "Y-y-you" he said pointing a shaking finger to Sierra "You cannot be here. You're dead. I killed you!" Sierra only smiled at him "Are you sure?"

Chomper then went forward with his mouth open and ready to bite down in the flyer. But, this time, Sierra was ready. Chomper felt that Sierra had evaded his bite, he just didn't knew to what side. He then get up and looked. His heart skipped a beat.

Sierra had in fact gone to the two sides at the same time, and now there were two Sierras! They both landed, and the Sierra of the right asked "What is his problem?" And the one of the left only replied "I don't know." Chomper was shocked, but, guided by an instinct, he struck again. The two Sierras evaded the bite, and in this, one of then had somehow made another Sierra emerge from his body. The three flyers stood in a line and laughed in woodpecker style (a laugh completed by each one, If you saw a certain episode of woody woodpecker you will know what I mean).

Chomper backed away a few steps. This wasn't possible, this couldn't be happening! Yes. It was just a dream, at any moment he would wake up back in his grounds and discover that the final battle hadn't even started yet. "No Chomper." said Bayron, making the others look at him "This is no dream big guy." He continued saying "You're wide awake and this is really happening."

Chomper was taken back by this. This guy could read his thoughts? "S-shut up." He managed to say "This has to be a dream, what else could be?" Everyone traded looks. One of the Sierras took a few steps forward and made a large cut in Chomper's paw with his claws. The great sharptooth roared in pain. He looked down at the Sierra, who backed away back to the other "Well, it seems that is real."

Chomper then roared again and then charged forward, at this moment Balcan screamed "Now Hanna!" At this signal, the pink sickleclaw materialized a crystal made of pink light and threw it at Chomper, hitting him square in the chest. Chomper's eyes widened as the pink light enveloped him and his body vanished in a flash.

* * *

In the cliff, Gris and his son Garick were only watching. at some point, Gris simply had seen enough.

"Lets go." He said to his son "We need a new attack plan." Then he turned around and went away, with Garick following him after he gave a last look and smiled. everything was going good until now.

* * *

All the sharpteeth gasped at this. Many of them were ready to turn away and run, now that they had lost the advantage of the flamebreath and now that their leader was now gone. Blueye stepped forward "What you did to Chomper?" She demanded "Tell me!" Hanna looked at her "Geez, calm down, I just send him to another place."

Blueye's eyes widened "What!? To where?" Then Balcan spoke "To a place where Chomper can find out the truth and start following the right path again. And lead you all through it."

Blueye looked at him, she didn't got one single word. Then Balcan spoke again "What remembers me." He then turned to the other army, the one formed by leaf eaters and alimons. "Could Spellbound please step forward?" He asked. The alimons mumbled between them. Spellbound and Shuva shared a look. Then he stepped forward.

When Spellbound was in front of the army Balcan then said "Hanna?" The pink sickleclaw looked "You know what to do." Balcan said pointing to Spellbound, who looked confused. Hanna looked at Balcan then at Spellbound, than said "Sorry man." Then in her hand materialized another pink crystal of light, that she threw at the alimon.

Spellbound's eyes widened as the crystal traveled to him at incredible speed. He didn't had time to dodge as it hit his body and he disappear in a flash of pink light.

All the alimons and the leaf eaters gasped at this. Some of then snarled in anger by seeing one of their pack being attacked. Hanna quickly said "Calm down guys. He is okay. I just send him to another place." But Littlefoot stepped forward "Oh yeah? And why?" He said with anger blazing in his eyes. Hanna gulped by seeing the look and said "W-well, it was Balcan's idea."

Littlefoot then turned his look to the rainbow face with silver eyes, who only smiled and said "There is another place where Spellbound needs to be right now, and that is very important." Littlefoot snarled at him "Oh yeah? Like somewhere he can't help us?" Balcan looked at him "Excuse me?"

Littlefoot then gave another treating step forward "You suddenly appear in the middle of the war and offer to stop." He said "How can we trust you? For all we know this could be a very well conceived plot to deceit us. Or could this be a plan of your's Rex?" He finished looking at the dracovol, who looked confused "What?"

"Yes." Littlefoot continued "This could be your plan, right? you gained Chomper's trust to after betray him with your allies and them you could lead the pack and rule the valley on your own. It would be a good plan right?" Everyone was looking at Littlefoot now, some in disbelief that he could be this suspicious. Yu and Sandstorm shared a look, they knew that they couldn't simply trust in Rex, but this was now going to far. The members of the order were looking at him with a "you can't be serious" look. Then Lara spoke "Dude, if someone betrayed me I would find hard to trust this person again, but now you're being a bit paranoid."

Littlefoot looked at her "Oh, I am? It because Rex had betrayed us to join Chomper, and tried to kill me. I think that is normal that I think those things." But then Rex spoke "It wasn't my fault." Littlefoot the said "You attacked me and it wasn't your fault? How can it be?"

"Chomper had got Yu" Rex said desperate "He was going to kill him if I didn't join his army." At this some of the present in the army considered, especially Yu, but Littlefoot didn't was convinced "Well, you seemed very willing to fight on his side when you tried to incinerate me with your fire." Rex then lowered his face in shame "It wasn't me." He tried to say in his defence "You see, when I got to Chomper's side, my past life, that was a flamebreath, possessed my body and forced me to act that way. It was him, not me."

This took many to thinking, this was indeed a convincing explanation. but Littlefoot remained impassive. "But." He said "If the flamebreath was your past life, and you are his reincarnation., this doesn't mean that you and him could be the same person?" He asked still in anger. Rex had no real answer fo this "I... Well... Maybe."

Littlefoot then took another step forward, but Rex kept saying "But I'm telling the truth! Please Littlefoot, be reasonable!" Littlefoot looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Well, you say this, so prove it."

"Huh?" Was Rex response. Littlefoot then took fighting stance "If you really doesn't wanted to hurt us then you will proof it. Fight me. If you can defeat me without doing any damage to me yourself, then I'll believe you." He said, making Rex adopt a sorrowful look "Come on! Attack!"


	61. Scolding and Revelation

Part VI: Intermission

"What are you waiting for?" Asked Littlefoot to Rex, who was with a very sorrowful expression "This is what you wanted. Attack me!"

Rex was backing away. He would never want to hurt Littlefoot, and the though of having to fight him was terrible. He just couldn't bring himself to hurt him, and knew by the look in the longneck's face that he was going to fight with all he had, and Rex would probably have no chance at all.

The other's were just watching, many of them were plenty sure that the longneck had gone completely insane. The alimons were thinking that he was overreacting and was paranoid. Yu and Sandstorm were sharing a worried look. They knew that if Rex didn't hurt Littlefoot he would never be able to win. Ducky and Ali were scared.

Ali then gave a few steps forward and talked to Littlefoot in a soft tone "Littlefoot?" The longneck turned his head to the female "Maybe you're going a little too far." She spoke "Maybe Rex is telling the truth. Maybe you should listen to him."

"SO YOU'RE ON HIS SIDE NOW?" He screamed, making her back away. Littlefoot's face was pure anger, along with the tone of his voice. "AFTER ALL HE HAD DONE TO US HE DESERVES EVERYTHING BUT OUR TRUST!". Everyone stared at the longneck. Ali then spoke again afraid "L-Littlefoot, why are you talking like this?" She asked with tears in her eyes "Why are you acting like this? This is not you."

"THIS IS THE WAR!" He screamed again "I've seen my friends and familiars die by the claws of the ones I judged my friends. I've been betrayed by them and saw sharpteeth destroy my home. I was a fool for believing that a sharpptooth could be a friend with a leaf eater. For them we are nothing more than food. They're deceitful and cruel, with the only exception of the alimons. And I shall never make the mistake of simply trusting in one again."

Everyone listened his words, Rex with sadness, and Yu and Sandstorm with a hint of anger. Then the longneck turned to Rex "And if you're not going to make the first move, so I will!" And with that he charged forward, startling Rex.

But Littlefoot gave no more than four steps before his feet sank in the ground. "What!?" He exclaimed as his four legs sank in the ground until his knees. He tried to yank them, but they were stuck in the solid rock. All the spectators were shocked.

Salen, the jade-green sickleclaw walked forward, until he was in the first line of sight of the longneck. He breathed deeply as he closed his eyes. Then he raised his hands. From the earth in front of Littlefoot raised two pillars of soil and sand, that modeled themselves in the shape of hands and stretched, circling around his long neck before the grabbed in a firm grip in his throat, almost making him choke.

Salen then made another gesture with his hand, and the earth under his feet started to move, making another soil pillar. This one raised him from the ground while he stepped in it. Then the pillar moved, moving forward with Salen on top, until the sickleclaw was in Littlefoot's eye level, staring straight at him.

"Listen here, and listen well." Salen spoke to the longneck with a calm voice, but yet firm. "You may think what you want. But you may, too, consider what is around you. Do you think that what you're saying sound at least reasonable?" Littlefoot only snarled angry at the sharptooth and told him to "Go to hell!" In this moment the grip of the earth claws in his neck intensified. But in this a voice said "Stop."

Everyone turned to the source of the voice. Even Littlefoot, tough difficultly, was able to twist his neck to look. They could see a strange, ghostly mist forming in the air, and then taking the shape of a longneck. This one was dark brown and by the voice was clearly a female. Everyone gasped. The sharpteeth thought that it was another of those strange dinos. The alimons, Yu, Sandstorm, Ducky and Ali recognized the ghost. Littlefoot's eyes widened as he recognized the figure. "Mom!"

Salen then snapped out of it and looked surprised at the longneck he was holding "Mom?". He then turned the look to the spirit that was walking forward "This guy is your son?" The longneck only looked back and said "Yes, and I'd thank if you let him go."

This was all that takes to the hands decomposed in soil, the soil pillar that raised Salen now reversed back until he was in the ground again. Then he bowed down to the spirit, along with the other members of the order. Rex looked at the longneck, he recognized that longneck, he had saw it in his prison!

Rex received a nudge in his ribs, that had come from the pink dracovol, Lara. "Bow down." She whispered at him "You have to show respect." Rex was a bit confused, but he did as was told and bend forward in a reverence.

Littlefoot just stood there, staring at the ghost of his mother. He then reached forward to nuzgle his cheek on her, only to find out that her body was fog and immaterial. But she smiled at her son's attempt. "It's good to see you too Littlefoot." She said to him, making him smile.

Then she turned to the Order of Leaf and Claw "Get up now kids." She said, and they get up straight again. Rex then gave one step forward "You..." He said "You're the longneck that talked to me." She smiled at him "Yes little one. It is good to see that you're free now."

Littlefoot took a few moments to recover from the shock and then spoke "Mother! You can't serious belive in what he says. Not a sharptooth." She sighed and spoke softly "Littlefoot."

But like he had not heard he continued "He just used our trust to betray us." He said with anger "He is just another deceitful sharptooth that cares little to nothing with anothers that are not of his kind." HIs mother then spoke again, a little louder and with a more serious tone "Littlefoot."

But Littlefoot continued "He is a traitor! If we trust him again he will probably betray us again. And this story of his is not believable, and after all he done we cannot in any circumstance-" But he was cut out when his mother's ghost turned to him with an angry look and screamed "ENOUGH LITTLEFOOT!"

Littlefoot's eyes widened as he gasped. His mother never had talked to him like that before, and she never looked at him with that anger before. His mother, ignoring him, continued in an angry tone that Littlefoot had found very unlike what he knew of her "Littlefoot, I expected you, better than anyone, to understand that others sometimes have to do things that they don't want to. And mostly, that you understood that simply fighting back for angry is one of the most stupid things that can be done."

Littleffot was speechless "M-mother...", but she continued "Not only because of simply accepting to take part in this war just because of anger, but also mistreating innocents, like your friends and even the one who got pregnant of your child." She breathed deeply and continued "Littlefoot, with all you've gone throught is comprehensive your feelings, in fact, you have the right of feeling betrayed and angry, but just because you feel like this you don't have the right of judging or of being cruel."

"B-but him..." Littlefoot tried to speak, but his mother intermissed again "You think that Chomper or Rex are bad because they have lead an army due to angry or revenge? because they did the innocent suffer or because they have oppressed the ones who didn't make the things that they wanted? Well Littlefoot, you have done most of the same things as them, so if they're really evil, so you're no different from them!"

Littlefoot gasped at this. All his army was watching, some were waiting for him to tried to charge her in anger, but those were surprised when he simply closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. At this, his mother adopted a more serene expression and spoke to him softly "Littlefoot, look around you." The longneck did as was told and looked around, seeing all the dinosaurs that were now there as his mother spoke "All of them have family and friends, don't you think that their lives are more valuable than anger or revenge?"

Littlefoot looked sad at all of them. She was right. He lowered his head and said "Is my fault too." Rex took a few steps forward and spoke to the longneck "No Littlefoot, is not your fault" But the longneck interrupted "Yes, it is Rex. I could have prevented all the deaths that happened here. I could have saved much more, but I let my pride and my anger to take hold of me. I was about to sacrifice much more just to have my revenge on you and Chomper." He then looked to the ground and closed his eyes, a single tear running in his face "I'm becoming just like Chomper."

The dracovol then walked to the longneck and patted his snout slightly, making the longneck look back at him and find a warm smile on his face. He looked up and saw that his mother was smiling too. "You made mistakes Littlefoot." She spoke "We cannot undo the past now, but we can take care of the future by watching or actions now."

Her words made him smile, and then she continued "Is a thing that you needed to understand, and that Chomper will too."

Littlefoot and Rex turned their looks to her "Chomper?" She nodded "Yes, he will came back, and when he do, you two should trust him too." This made the one who could her confused "But, after all he done..." spoke Rex, the ghostly longneck only looked at him. "Lets just say that you're not the only that was made act by others."

She then turned her look to Littlefoot "You remember what I said?" She asked him, making him wonder what she meant, then he remembered the voice he heard after their first confrontation with Chomper "About forgiving and the family I never knew?" He asked "Why is this important, and what family?"

The ghost of his mother smiled at him "You'll see. Now, just wait for Chomper to came back." Those were her last words before vanishing in mist. Leaving them confused.

"So..." Said Rex "What do we do now?"

Balcan then spoke "We wait for Chomper, like she said." He smiled as he spoke "I'm sure we will want to hear what he will have to say when he cames back."

* * *

"Ah, I need to find my way soon." Said Speelbound. Since that sickleclaw send him that crystal he had suddenly appeared in the middle of another part of the valley, and now he was going as fast as he could back to the place. Then when he stopped to take a breath in the middle of the woods, a rustling sound was heard. Spellbound quickly turned around and snarled. "Who is there!"

A red alimon with white stripes emerged. "Chill, Spellbound! It's only me!" The alimon was a large male, slightly larger than Spellbound. He was part of Dynamo/Siria's pack. "Or did you forget who I was, Spellbound?" He asked playfully.

"Morro?" He asked softly. "Morra is that you? I haven't seen you in years! Where have you been?" He asked, smiling. He wiped off the sweat that formed on his forehead.

Morro chuckled heartfully. "I've been exploring, what else?" He walked closer to Spellbound. "Dynamo sent out someone to find me, and told me of what happened." He shuddered thinking at the devastation in the valley. "Terrible isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Spellbound said, his face downcast. "How could we let it slip so far...?"

"Because you and your miserable pack are just a bunch of idiots who couldn't do so much as cut a blade of grass without problems!" Spellbound and Morro angrily turned to see who had said that. "But then what can I expect from someone who was trained by Dynamo?" The voice said sarcastically.

"Gris!" Spellbound shouted in both surprise and disgust. "Just what are you doing here!"

Gris laughed coldly and approached the enraged alimons slowly. "Oh just paying you two a visit before the final play. That's all." He turned his head towards Morra. "Well well well...Morro! Good to see you again!" He said sarcastically. "It's been a long time. Why, no one has seen you since..."

"Since your good-for-nothing father, Rorra, was killed by Axel after he betrayed her." Morro said with a tinge of hatred.

"WATCH WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT MY FATHER!" Gris exploded with rage, his teeth bared. He was not afraid to make the killing bite.

"Just like your father." Morro said, smiling slightly. "Such a temper. I guess some dinosaurs really do take after their father."

"My father taught me well!" Gris boasted. "In fact, he taught me some spells in case his plan failed."

Spellbound chuckled. "Yeah it did fail...after Axel betrayed him and killed him with a single bite to the head." Gris seethed. "I guess he picked on the wrong alimon, eh, Morro?"

"You said it!"

"ENOUGH!" Gris lunged forward and landed close to the alimons. The action was so fast the two were taken aback, and nearly fell down. "I know what Axel did! Luckily when I became leader, we dealt with her."

Morro blinked. "But...I thought she left the pack after she killed Rorra." He looked at Spellbound. "Isn't that right? She got tired of being under Rorra's control and just left?"

Spellbound nodded. "Yes. She became a loner, and ran far away. I have no idea how far, but I always believed she would be too far way to cause trouble or for anyone from her former pack to find her."

"Oh we found a way." Gris grinned. "And I sent my best assassin to finish the job. Oh how I would have loved to see the look on my own face when the assassin returned with Axel's head!"

Spellbound and Morro slightly cringed at the thought, but they quickly let it go. "So what is it you are doing now?" Morro asked, stepping up to the larger alimon. He showed no signs of fear. "Are you killing off members of our pack now?"

"Sadly...no." Gris narrowed his eyes. "What I was doing was even better! I am was getting my revenge on this worthless valley. I have created a war that would decimate all inhabitants! No one could escape my vengeance!" The gray alimon laughed insanely, but it died down "But then those strange dinosaurs with their strange magic kept in the middle." he finished with a hint of anger. As he settled down, he added, "And to think, it all started when I disguised myself as Slasher, and tricked that moron of a dinosaur, Chomper, into thinking he had to join the army of sharpteeth and invade the valley!"

"What...?" A voice called out from behind. Gris, Morro, and Spellbound all turned to see who it was. Gris raised an eyebrow, Morro blinked, and Spellbound gasped. The figure was still hidden in the bushes, but the face was clear enough so that they could tell who it was. As the figure stepped out, there was no doubting it now. Those cracked horns, those short arms, that blue skin, the light blue underneath, the red eyes...they all could only belong to one dinosaur in this valley.

"Chomper!" Spellbound cried, breaking the silence that had started to settle among the group.

Chomper made no response. He simply walked forward, a blank look on his face, although his eyes were clearly widened. It may have been due to fright, shock, or astonishment, or perhaps even anger. "You..." He looked at Slasher. "You lied to me..."

"Surprised? Get over it!" Gris said evilly.

"You lied to me...You lied to me. YOU LIED TO ME!" Chomper roared ferociously and charged forward to attack Gris. The speed was so amazing that even Gris would have a hard time dodging this.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The scream carried out throughout the forest as Chomper's horn sliced into Gris's side, leaving a deep gash. As Chomper prepared to make the kill, Gris looked up at the dinosaur, and his eyes started to glow...


	62. Request to the Readers

Part VI: Intermission

AN: Okay now

Thank you for all who had been readying. You might have thought of the idea of dinosaurs with those super powers being a hell of a trip. But the ones who liked it now I offer the chance of making your own.

Yes. In the next two days I'll be accepting OC's as members of the Order of Leaf and Claw.

You have an Idea for a dinosaur with super powers? So show it here following the instructions:

**Name:** The name of your character

**Species:** Your character is a longneck? A sickleclaw? A threehorn? A bonecrusher sharptooth?

**Gender:** Your character is male or female?

**Age:** Your dino is a child, a pre-teen, a teen, a young adult, a full-grown adult or an elder?

**Appearance: ** Made details of your character. What is his scale colors? He has feathers? What color are they? What color are his eyes? He is physical deficient? Has some scar?

**Personality:** Describe your characters mind. How he thinks, what he likes and dislikes, he has some way of thinking? Important Note: As a member of the order your character must have some reason to want the world to be a good place to both leaf eater and sharptooth. The Order of Leaf and Claw are the good guys. Evil characters will not be accepted.

**Amulet:** All members of the order have an amulet made of silvery metal with the symbol of the order, that grants them power. Is it a belt? A ring? A bracelet? A necklace?

**Power:** What power would you like your character to have? If could be detailed would be nice. Not: Your character must not have an exaggerated power, like reality warping at will. Powers like rewind time and time travel are out of question. Overpowered characters will not be accepted. They're powerful but they're not God.

**Bio:** Insert here your character's story. It would be nice to put in it how did he joined the order. Characters that died and came back to life are incredible rare occasions.

If I really like your character I may even put him/her in the story. Yeah, for some people too much is always too little.


	63. New Allies and Not Too Late

Part VI: Intermission

Although General Chomper's attack did startle the alimon, he did have one trick up his sleeve. As Chomper was about to plummet his horn through the alimon's side, Chomper looked into the glowing red eyes of the evil alimon. Somehow, almost like magic, Chomper stiffened in mid-attack. His jaws were slightly open, and one leg was off the ground. Then he stood straight up, something bone-crusher sharpteeth would do if they were resting, or wanted to get a better view of something. None of these Chomper was intended on doing. He opened his mouth to speak, but something was keeping the words from exiting his jaws. His eyes widened in fear, realizing his whole body had a reddish glow around it.

Morro and Spellbound watched as Gris kept Chomper in this freezing trance. Then they watched the X-marked alimon slowly approach the general, sharpening his claws along a boulder on the way. "He's going to kill him." Spellbound said dully, not showing much emotion. "Should we do something?" He turned to Morro.

Morro didn't answer. He was already walking out towards Gris, who somehow didn't notice him. Perhaps he was letting his pride get the better of him, or perhaps he wasn't smart enough to look around. As Chomper struggled to break free of this mental grip, Morro leapt towards the evil-hearted alimon, ready to sank his teeth in his hide.

But Gris saw it and turned his clawed hand to the alimon, his eyes shining in red.

Morro then was enveloped by a red bright as he landed on his feet. Then he raised mechanically to his hind legs, keeping straight up and unable to move a muscle or talk. His eyes widened in fear as Gris showed him a toothy grin.

"Morro!" Screamed Spellbound as he jumped too ready for action. But once again Gris noticed it and turned his red shining eyes to the alimon. Spellbound too stopped enveloped by a red glow and got on his right legs straight and stiff as a branch. He noticed too late his mistake, as now they were all at mercy of the X-marked alimon, who was grinning as wide as a shark.

"Well, well, well. Seems like today is my lucky day." Exclaimed Gris joyfully "Not only I got a big moron dinosaur like I got too two of the Rock Rangers! I can't decide who of you kill first, and the way of killing each of you! I just can't decide."

"Good." came a female voice from behind him "Because you will not touch them."

Gris turned around to the source of his voice, without losing hold of his captives. He then saw came out of the woods a jade-colored fast runner, with light green feathers and amber-colored eyes. She was using a bracelet with the symbol of the Order of Leaf and Claw. It was Tiana, and she had a serious look.

"Who are you?" Gris asked. The fast runner looked at him "I'm Tiana. And you're going to let them go." Gris let out a barking laugh and said defiantly "Force me." Tiana sighed and said "Okay." She then raised her right hand, only then Gris noticed the bracelet in her arm, perceiving that she might be one of those strange dinos. He didn't noticed the plants growing over his feet. And they were growing really fast.

"Hey!" Gris exclaimed as the plants had grown in tick and strong vines that tied around his body and raised him of the ground. By the surprise Gris lose his focus and so his hold of the others, who almost fell flat in the ground of being suddenly free. Gris squirmed in the vines, but they had a strong grip in him. He turned to Tiana and demanded "Release me!" Tiana looked at him defiantly and said mocking "Force me."

Right after she said those words, a red blur dashed from the woods and positioned right behind her. It was another alimon, this one ruby-red with dark grey strips on his back and yellow-green eyes and an X-mark of the darkarians on his left shoulder. He stood in two legs and passed one of his arms around Tiana while his other hand griped her neck. He had now a strong grip on her.

At this the vines stopped moving, but they kept their hold in him as he was above the ground. He then looked at the fast runner in Garick's hold and smiled. "Well, well." He said in a victorious tone "Seems like you've got to know my son Garick."

Morro, who was recovering in the ground, then snapped out of it when Gris said the words "my son". "Son?" He asked, then Spellbound groaned "Just what we needed. Another of them."

Gris laughed hard as his former captor was now helpless. As he tried to loose the bounds of the vines in him he turned to his son. "Garick." He called, making the alimon look at him. Gris smiled cruelly as he said "Do as you like with her." The ruby-red alimon smiled and said "I'm glad to her you say that father." His hand that was on her neck then moved to her chin, and he guided her face so she was now looking at him, and then he opened his mouth. Everyone thought he was going to bite her face. Spellbound and Morro were ready to act, but before they could Garick planted his lips in the fast runners mouth in a passionate kiss.

The watchers were shocked, most of all being Gris. Garick then softened his hold on her middle body as she turned around to hug his neck. At the same time he hugged her body with both arms, pulling her closer as they deepened the kiss. After a few seconds they broke apart, Garick looking in her eyes lovingly. "Oh, Tiana." He said in a sweet tone "You don't know how has been a torture being away from you for so long." She smiled at him "Oh, Garick." she said as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

In this moment Gris snapped out of that and said "Garick." The alimon turned to him, along with Tiana "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded "T-this is not wat it seems, right?" Garick looked at him and said "Depends, what does it seems?"

"That you and this fast runner have a relationship." Gris said to his son, who only replied "Then it is exactly what it seems." Gris looked at his son "You have something with those dinos?" He asked outraged.

"They call themselves Order of Leaf and Claw." Garick said "They have both leaf eaters and sharpteeth in their ranks. Their goal is to protect the world of evil in all its forms and to make the world a place were both leaf eaters and sharpteeth can live together in harmony. Oh, and the abilities they have are called by them the spirits' blessing and is given by them by their amulets, the things they use in their bodies."

The other stared at him for a few seconds, then Spellbound asked "How do you know so much about them?" Garick then raised his right arm, and in it, in a light-blue shine, appeared a bracelet with the symbol of a treestar with a sharptooth's tooth carved over it. Then Garick said "Because I'm a member of this order."

At this point Gris roared in rage, a roar that made the others back off a little, even Tiana flinched, but Garick didn't even blinked. Gris freed himself from the vines and jumped in Garick's direction, roaring "TRAITOR!" his claws stretched and his teeth bared to kill. But, before he could make contact with Garick or Tiana, the ruby-red alimon raised his hand at him, and he stopped in mid-air.

"What?" Gris asked confuse as he floated over the ground with no visible mean of suspension. Garick then made a gesture bringing his hand down, and so Gris was slammed against the ground. Then Garick turned his hand's palm upside, making Gris be raised from the ground again, and then moved his hand to the side, making Gris be thrown 20 feet of distance and slam into a tree, making it tremble by the sheer strength of the impact.

Gris then raised to his feet again, soothing an enraged glare to his son. Garick returned the glare and said in a calm but firm tone "We have been watching from the shadows and kept from acting for far too long father. We have kept in secret for far too much time and now we are acting. I'm not afraid of you as the order is not afraid of the darkarians. If you come we will fight and stand our ground until the end."

"You'll pay for this." Gris hissed before dashing forward in the woods. Morro and Spellbound were about to run after him, but Garick stopped then "No. Let him go. We can deal with him later."

"Oh, yeah?" said Morro mistrusting "And why should we listen to you? You're his son. You're one darkarian. For all we know you're on his side."

Tiana shoot him a death-glare, but Garick simply sighed as he lowered his head and said "Yeah, you're right." This surprised the two alimons. Garick raised his face to look at them. "For years I had been teached many things. That the plant eaters were scum compared to us, that we deserved to rule the valley and all who were in our way were an enemy that should be killed. For long I have listened and believed all of this." He then turned his look to Tiana, and smiled "But I found someone who helped me see the truth, and put me into the better path."

The alimons looked at him for a few seconds, them Morro asked "How can we know that what you say is truth?" Garick looked at them and said "That's the problem: you can't. You'll have to trust me."

The two alimons considered it. Well, he had in fact saved the fast runners life, and they knew that a darkarian would never do such a thing without a good reason, and he had, apparently, defied and fought Gris. They considered for almost one minute, then came to an agreement: they would trust Garick, at least for now.

"Okay." Said Spellbound "We trust you." But then Morro said "But, if you try anything we will rip out your throat." Tiana shoot him another glare that could make blood freeze and morro shrugged "Seems fair enough."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Spellbound. Garick then said "Well, we are going back to the armies along with Chomper... Where is he?" Only then they noticed that the big horned sharptooth was not there anymore. They looked around, then Morro saw him "Right there." He pointed out "In the woods." They looked to the direction he pointed and saw the big sharptooth at distance, walking like he was lost or tired. Then they went after him.

* * *

In another part, a black smoke was flying away.

_How could I have failed?_ It thought. If those damned dinosaurs had not put in the middle he would be bathing in that longneck's blood by now.

This black smoke was an evil spirit. It was Fire, the original funder of the darkarians.

No one would ever suspect, not even his grandson Gris, but when he fooled Chomper with his disguise, Fire had taken the opportunity of the weakening of spirit of the sharptooth to take possession of his body and control his mind with his suggestions. He had been the real responsible for Chomper's corruption.

But when Chomper learned the truth, he was forcefully ejected from his body, his control completely lost. And now he was there, flying at the speed of light to search for a new body to inhabit and use. But he would be back, and sooner than anyone would think.

* * *

Chomper had watched as the two members of the order fought Gris. But when Morro brought up the question if Garick was worth of trust, this brought to surface many memories of Chomper.

Memories of how his friends reacted when discovered that was him how did all those things, of how their faces were, after all they'd gone together. His heart sank one hundred feet. He only lowered his head and walked away with dragged steps, like he was extremely tired.

He walked a little like this, without direction, just wandering.

He finally leaned himself in a tree, like he was really very tired. His mind reeled back at all that happened. All the ones he killed, all the ones he tried to kill, the ones he betrayed, all the things he'd done, the things he tried to do. Littlefoot.

His mind stopped in the memories of Littlefoot. The one who treated him like family, the one who was on his side even when the others were not, the one who once risked his life to save him. And he betrayed the longneck, he planned to kill and do the most horrible things to him. Once those thoughts brought him joy and excitation, now they brought only nausea and shame.

In his sadness, one single tear ran down his face. How he wished he could undo the past.

(The music here is It's Not Too Late; from Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam)

A soft music started playing as a thought passed Chomper's mind. Gris plans had not been completed. There were many dinos that were still alive, and it seemed to be many of this Order of Leaf and Claw around. He was pretty strong, along with many of his army. He could do something. He could do something to ease the pain caused, the pain He had caused. Then he sang "Here I am. Feels like the walls are closing in."

He then let go of the tree and walked some lose steps, raising his head to the sky as he sang "Once again is time to face it and be strong. I wanna do the right thing now, I know is up to me somehow I've lost my way."

If he had a way of going back to the past, he would do everything different, he would never listen to the false Slasher, and this would never happen, with this thought he sang "If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down" It was truth, he never meant to let Littlefoot, Rex, or anyone down. Not anymore. "And now I've got to try and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this, I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe is not too late." He lowered his head as he sang "Maybe it's not too late."

In this moment the others arrived, but Chomper didn't noticed, and neither them did anything besides hearing the sharptooth let his feelings out. Chomper leaned his body in another tree. If he had any way of going back in time, he would do everything different. He sang "So I'll take a stand, even though it's complicated. If I can I would change the way I meant it."

He then let go of the tree and walked more "I wanna do the right thing now, I know is up to me somehow. I've lost my way. If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this. I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe it' not too late." He held the last note, then he sang "I'm gonna find the strength to be the one that holds it all together. Show you that I'm sorry but I know that we could make it better."

He then lowered his head in sadness and sang "If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try, and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this. I know there's I way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe is not too late." He sang his feelings, what was on his heart right then "I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try, and turn it all around. And figure out how to fix this. I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe it's not too late." Then he lowered his head again in sadness and sang softly "Maybe it's not too late."

The others were there, watching the sharptooth. Then Tiana walked till him and placed a hand on his big foot, making him look at her, to find a smile "And you're right." She said to him "Really is not too late."

"Yeah, right..." Said Morro, making the others look at him "Even if it's not, a lot of damage has already been done, many are dead or dying. And there is no way of fixing it." Tiana looked at him and said "Balcan said it was."

"Balcan?" asked Spellbound "That rainbow face?" Tiana smiled "Yes. He knows lots of things. If it wasn't for him I would not have come here to save you from Gris. Balcan says that the things are going to get better, and he knows what he says... usually." She finished kinda uncertain.

Then Garick stepped forward and said "Well, now we should read back to the troops. I think you have new orders to give to your pack, right?" he said turning to Chomper. The big sharptooth looked at him and then at the ground for a few seconds, before raising his head with a look forward and say "Yes."

"So follow us." Garick said as he and Tiana took the forward. Chomper followed them. Spellbound and Morro shared a look before going right behind.

* * *

In another part of the valley, a group was walking forward. This group was first formed by Jimmy, the egg stealer; Heater, the sickleclaw; Kenan, the light-blue, green-eyed threehorn; and else by Petrie, Pterano and Spike. But the group was also becoming bigger as they went on. Leaf eaters and sharpteeth were joining the group. They all had very little in common. Despite that they were all dead before.

Yes, the dinosaurs that were joining the group were the ones that before had died in the war. Of course, some of their first thoughts after coming back was to kept fighting, but a quickly show of power from Heater was enough to convince them that it was a bad idea. The dinosaurs who were brought back themselves doubted this kind of thing, but soon they were convinced by seeing another deceased dinos being healed from death by the egg stealer in front of their very eyes.

Now the group was walking in a forest, they had to kept together to not have too much trouble walking in the close tracks. Wich was rather unpleasant to both leaf eaters and sharpteeth. Jimmy, Heater and Kenan were in the front line, so they were the first to see something in front of them.

It seemed a corpse.

It was Cera's rotting corpse. The sight almost made some of the members of the group, like Petrie and Pterano gag, while others soon vomited from the sight. Much of her flesh had been eaten away, revealing the skeleton inside. Her head was completely crushed into an unrecognizable shape. Maggots squirmed inside the remaining organs she still had and flies clung to the few shears of skin that still clung to her rotting body. Coagulated blood covered in the ground around her and filled her rib cavity, and dripped off her ribs.

"Me gonna be sick." Said Petrie. Heater rolled her eyes and then nudged Jimmy to take a step forward. Jimmy nodded and was about to reach out to her when something on the ground called his attention. "What is this?" He said, kneeling to look at the thing.

It was a skeleton. Seemed the one of a longneck, but was really small. This was Lizzie's skeleton. Chomper had done just like with Dusty, eaten up her and then spat her skeleton. It was all there and not a piece was broke. In the given situation, the fact of this bones not being taken by any small creature, lost by the time or crushed under the foot of another creature was indeed a small miracle.

_Heal her_ it came again the voice inside Jimmy's head. Then the egg stealer, again guided by a mysterious instinct, reach out with his hand. His ring shone again as his powers started to work again in the skeleton. Soon it started to reform. The flesh reformed, making again the organs, the muscles and the blood. Then a layer of skin covered it all.

Then the tinysaur opened her eyes gasping and looked around. The last thing Lizzie remembered was of the sharptooth biting her down, but now she was there. Looking up she saw an egg stealer looking at her smiling.

And right by his side was a sickleclaw.

Lizzie yelped in fear and them tried to scramble away. But Heater quickly reached out and grated her in her clawed hand. Lizzie squirmed in her hand, trying to escape. "Ow, ow." Said Heater "Calm down little one. I'll not hurt you." Lizzie looked her in the eyes, she seemed to be sincere. Lizzie stopped squirming and looked around, seeing Cera's body. Her eyes widened "CERA!"

"Oh, yes." Said Jimmy, then remembering. He walked to the body and then put his hand in it. Then his ring shone bright and the body started to heal. The maggots were forcefully ejected and scrambled in the ground. The whole body was reforming. The flesh filled again the openings. The head started to reform and reshape in the original form. Then a layer of skin was spreaded over the open wounds, leaving not even a scar.

When it was over the threehorn widened her eyes screaming, and looking around. The last thing she felt was the pain of the sharptooth biting her head down, then she felt no more. But now the sharptooth was gone, and she looked around, to find a group formed by both leaf eaters and sharpteeth. But she had her attention called a sickleclaw that had something in her hand.

Lizzie stared back at Cera. Heater placed her at the ground and she kept staring "C-Cera?" she asked unsure. The threehorn stared back at her "Lizzie?" Then , without warning, they ran to each other and nudged together, both with tears in her eyes.

"But Liz." Said Cera "I saw the sharptooth eat you."

"It is kind of long story." Said Heater "But now we gotta go. We need to find up with the other teams."

* * *

_The last chapter of the year. I'll give a time by now, but I'll try to make beter chapters in the future, just watch. Happy New Year to all readers._


	64. Trust and Rescue

AN:_ I wanna give special thanks for LionKingFactsGuy2, hiphoplover1211 and The Great Valley Guardian, for sending me OCs to work with in this story. In fact, I have some plans in room for them. And in this chapter the surprises just start. I promise to try keeping the good work for all of my readers. Thank you all for the support._

Part VII: Regrouping

Back in the place of the war. Both armies were there, just waiting. Both wanted to attack the other, due to the circunstances, but the sight of what the recent members of the order could do convinced them to stay out of fight.

One word that could describe the members of the order, at least Vanny, Lara, some of the sextuplets and Ginna, was bored. The others were just waiting there patiently, even Salen, who was keeping himself distracted by making small pebbles float in the air and shoot through the land.

"What exactly are we waiting for?" asked Doro. Balcan then turned his face to a certain direction, and pointed out "That."

The others turned to the direction he pointed, and saw some figures coming from the distance. Two walking in two legs, one bigger and other smaller, and three figures walking in all fours. The troops too noticed it and turned to watch the figures. Then they could see who it was when they came closer.

The biggest figure was Chomper, and he had a look full of sadness, different for his know confident and cruel look, two were alimons that they reconigzed as Spellbound and Morro, and there were one ruby-red alimon and a jade fast runner, both with bracelets of the order, that the order recognized, they were their own members, Garick and Tiana.

The Sharptooth troops were animated by seeing his commander again. They thought that their commander was ready to order another attack, ready capturing enemies to kill them. But they were surprised when Chomper came to in front of his troops and said "This has to stop!" The other stared at him oddly "This senseless war has to stop now!"

Now the sharptooth army became confuse. They traded looks and muttered between them. One of them said "What do you mean? You started this!"

"He is right." said another "You said that it was our right to rule this valley."

Chomper sighed and looked down guilty, them he spoke again. "We all were tricked." This caused more mutters "The alimons, the ones with the 'X' in their shoulders, they manipulated and tricked us into starting this war only to take advantage of this." He lowered his head again and fought back tears "They used us for nothing but gain!"

Both armies were now staring at Chomper. Both wondering what had gone up to him. The leaf eaters thought that he had now gone completally insane. The sharpteeth thought around the same thing. This was strange. This didn't seemed the same Chomper they had grown up with. Blueye then passed through them, and stood in front of Chomper looking him straight in the face. And them she said "So, there was no need for this?"

Chomper looked surprised at her. And then he said "This was all a scheme." Blueye listened with atention. Sylvia quickly ran to catch up with them. "The Slasher that brought me to Fortress Valley was not the same who you knew after me. It if that Slasher had actually existed. It was one of the alimons with a magical disguise. He planned all of this."

Blueye and Sylvia shared a look, and Chomper continued "This all was planned by him. We all were used. But I plan to try fix this, if you're willing to help." Blueye looked him deep in the eyes and said "Lead the way."

Chomper looked deeply into her eyes. He was touched. Even after all he have done, and even that now he was suddenly acting really strange to his normal behavior, Blueye was still on his side. When was the last time he let himself feel touched like this? He could only smile at her.

While this, some of the alimons of Littlefoot's group noticed the "X" mark in the ruby alimon's shoulder. Recognizing him as a Darkarian. They snarled at him, calling attention.

"And who would be this?" asked Shuva. Spellbound was the one who answered "His name is Garick." The alimons looked at him "He is Gris' son."

By hearing this, Shuva, along with other alimons snarled, bared their teeth, and started slowly advancing against Garick. The ruby alimon took a fighting pose, and Tiana took place right by his side. But then Morro talked "It's okay." The others turned to him. "By what seems, he is on our side."

Shuva looked mistrusting at the "X" marked alimon. "How can you be sure?"

"Because before we came here he slammed Gris against a tree." Answered Spellbound, granting the others to look at him "And he seemed too realistic for someone who was just pretending."

The alimons talked among themselves, and looked at Garick. Spellbound said "If he brings any problem we can just kill him." Tiana them shoot him a deathglare

The alimons then calmed down. In this moment Chomper turned his attention to the leaf eaters, and started walking towards them. Yu and Sandstorm took fighting poses. Chomper merely ignored them and went straight for Littlefoot.

The longneck backed away one step. He was ready for any attack, but Chomper just stood in front of him, looking him in the eye. Littlefoot could see sadness and guilty in those eyes. But yet he asked "How can we trust you?" Chomper looked back at him "You don't have how to know." was his only answer, a single tear escaped one of his eye, surprising Littlefoot. "I cannot fix the things I already did, but I can work out for making the future better." He said "All I ask is one chance."

Littlefoot considered. Chomper seemed sincere, but so did Rex when he betrayed him. But Rex was being controled by another, as Chomper was saying to have been. Chomper had did horrible things, and was the leader of an army of cruel sharpteeth, and he could very well be deceitful and liar. But when Littlefoot looked in his eyes, he didn't saw the monster that attacked his home and killed his fellows and friends, not anymore, now he saw Chomper, the young sharptooth that came to be his friend. He tried to bring bad possibilities, but as soon as they appeared, appeared the things in Chomper's face, voice and behavior that made he think better. That was when he took a mental decision.

The longneck looked deep into the eyes of his old friend, and said "I... I trust you."

The leaf eaters talked among them. Some saying that Littlefoot was insane and that Chomper simply couldn't be trusted. Chomper looked deep in Littlefoot's eyes and said weakly "Thank you."

"That is good boys!" Called Balcan's voice, making the others look at him. The old rainbow face was smiling happy at them "I'm really proud of you two."

Littlefoot and Chomper shared a look and turned back to the rainbow face. "And now, what do we do?", asked the blue sharptooth. Balcan smiled at him and said "Now we go to the meeting rock. The others will find us there."

"Others?" asked Littlefoot. Balcan then faced him. "The other members of the order, along with others. We will meet some of them in the way. Now we better go." Balcan said looking at the sky and to the bright circle's position. "We're almost late." he finished gesturing to the others to follow him. The others hesitated, but the members of the order did as it was. They started following Balcan. Doro turned to the others "You don't come?"

Littlefoot shared a look with Chomper and said "Y-yes, we're going." Then they both gestured to their groups to follow them, and them they went.

* * *

Lily woke up with a sound. The sound of the stone in the entrance of the chamber being moved. She looked up to the entrance to see the rock being moved and then letting the passage open. It stood silently for a few moments. Then one figure stepped in sight. And her heart skipped a beat. It was a sharptooth.

It was a young one, actually. It was of a brown color, and around the same size of a sickleclaw. It was young because it was a long-skull sharptooth (AN: Daspletosaurus) and his species used to be around Chomper's size when full-grow. Around his tail there was a brooch with the symbol of a leaf eater with a sharptooth's tooth carved over it.

Lily backed away and pressed her back against the wall of the cave. What was a sharptooth doing there? The war was already over? The leaf eaters and alimons had lost?

She was expecting to the young dino to advance against her, but he didn't, he just stayed that with his hands in his hips, like admiring his work. He then said "Didn't said I could do it easily? Its ratle simple for me." He finished with pride.

Then another sharptooth stepped on sight. This one with black scales and a gray underbelly. In his head there were two crests that were a splash of red and yellow and had orange eyes. In his throat that was what seemed a brooch with the same symbol. It was two-crested sharptooth (AN: Dilophosaurus) a kind that grew around the same size as the sickleclaws, and that was surely older than the long-skull.

"Yeah Dan." said the two-crested "I'm sorry for doubting your force and awesomeness, the order should make you the new head of the council." The long-skull turned to him and said "Ha, ah, very funny Jasper."

"Don't fight now dudes." said a voice, before another figure stepped in sight between them. It was a small creature two-legged. It had a small body, no more then around two foots, and its face resembled the face of a threehorn, but without any horn in it, and with a beak like a parrot, it was a shieldcrest (AN: Microraptor). It was orange with a light yellow underbelly, had black eyes and a scar in its left leg, and in his neck was a ring with the symbol.

"We can't lose time with this, we came here to a mission." It said with a cheerful and masculine voice. Jasper, the two-crested, chuckled and said "Sure Jak."

Jak, the shieldcrest nodded and turned his face to the rainbow face, that was pressing her back against the extreme of the chamber, and looked frightened. "Hi." he said "We came here to free you." Lily stared at them. "Well, your boyfriend would be happy to see you when we arrive there."

Lily almost jumped at this "Nick?" Dan nodded "Yeah, others had gone to free him from the sharpteeth too. Wanna find him?" Lily hesitated. Sure, they were sharpteeth, and she didn't knew if she could trust them, but they were offering to take her back to Nick, and she wanted to see him again. She thought for a few moments and said "Take me to him."

* * *

In another part of the valley, Nick was still bound to the boulder, his head down from tired. He was being watched carefully by two great bonecrusher sharpteeth that Chomper had put there to watch over him while he gone to the war. One of them was olive-green while the other was black with a grey underbelly and a dark-purple strip running down his back to the tip of his tail. But both looked at Nick as he was the most paltry thing in the world.

"Falling for a leaf-eater." said the olive one "Can you belive this guy? I wished we could just rip him in two already."

"Patient, Slam." said the other. "Chomper wants him alive to see that leaf-eater die in front of him. Don't you think it will be better?" Nick moved and snarled at this, but Slam, the olive, smiled and said "Yeah Tan, it will be good. I just wish they hurried up."

"They will not." came another voice, making the sharpteeth turn to face the sourche. It was a rainbow face. He had pale-green scales with red strips running down his back, his face had the same color pattern of the others of his kind, and his eyes were of a noticeable bright-pink. In his neck was a necklace with the symbol of the order

Slam took a step forward "Hey, little guy, do you really have courage to came here in the middle of the war?" The raibow face only smiled "My name is Cyrix. And you don't need to do this anymore because the war is over."

"So you leaf eaters surrendered already?" asked Tan "This was smart." Cyrix chuckled "No, both sides decided to stop the war. And now you can free him." He said pointing to Nick "I think that he would like to be with Lily again."

Nick looked at that rainbow face. He too knew of him and Lily. His words were truth? Chomper had really stopped the war? Slam and Tan seemed not to believe, as they said "You're nuts? Chomper planned this for far too long to simply stop."

Cyrix laughed "Yeah, it may be a shock, but I'm sure that it happened. Now, if you were gentle enough to let this nice sickleclaw go, I'd be very grateful."

"Oh yeah?" challenged Slam "And if we don't want to, what happens?" Cyrix looked back "Lets just say that it would not be good for your health." They shared a look, and then laughed "You will beat us? With who's help?"

Cyrix sighed, then by his side appeared a small creature. It was a dinosaur known as leaper (AN: Othnielia) because of its unusual ability to give great leaps. This one was small, just half the size of the normal. He had scales of mottled green and brown. Was very thin and had light-blue eyes. In one of his hands there was a ring with the symbol of the order.

Slam and Tan backed away, due to the surprise of the little leaf-eater have appeared from the air. He walked up to in front of the rainbow face and said "I-if you want to have him, you'll have to go through me." It was clear by his voice and the way his body was shaking that he was afraid. The bonecrushers recovered and stepped forward "This is your only resource? A small leaper?"

Than around the started appearing more leapers. The turned visible from thin air, ans they were all exactly equal. At all should be around 8 of them. Slam then roared and went to the leapers, them they disappeared. He felt them something grabbing his tail. He turned to look but saw nothing. The the same leapers that he tried to bite, materialized in his tail. Slam roared in fury.

Tan was about to get in the fight, but before he could, a stream of blue fire crossed his way. He backed away and looked to the side to see a creature that had sneaked. It was a spikethumb, it's skin of the same color of the blue fire and had a line of black feathers going from its head by its back to the tip of the tail. Its eyes were shining in blue. In its forehead was glued a brooch that had the symbol of the order. It was a big one, around twice the size of a normal male of the species.

She looked at him with anger as her eyes shined "Big fat bad guy will not hurt my friend Majali." Right after she said those words, she created from her fingertips a burst of blue flames so hot that Tan thought that his face was going to melt, and that was strong enough to knock him back some meters.

While this, Slam was still trying to get ride of the leapers holding his tail. He moved, spinned, and went to the ground, in one of those, his tail slammed hard in the ground, hitting all the leapers, they screamed and them disappeared in puffs of smoke. Slam smiled, but them more nine leapers jumped over him, this made him lose his balance and fall. His head hit a rock and he lose consciousness.

Tan was dodging the bursts of high-hot blue fire that the oversized spikethumb threw in him. Its heat and the fear making him sweat. She was now walking to him with blue fire enveloping her hands. Them Cyrix called "Go easy Kala. Remember that we were told to don't kill anybody." The spikethumb turned to him and nodded, then the fire stopped, making Tan smile.

But them the spikethumb turned to the close river and moved her arms to the water. Soon a mass of water moved to out of the river and to her. She kept moving her arms, making the water circle around her. Then with a sharp move of her limbs the mass of water went straight at Tan. It hit him with a strength that make him stumble down some steps.

Soon the water gone back to her and she put her hands together and enchased it in water. The water became colder and turned into ice. She then hit the sharptooth with the solidified water, making him stumble back. Then the water turned back to liquid, and went once again straight to Tan again, hitting him and sending him to the ground. Then Kala made a gesture, and the water once again became colder until freezing, and trapping him in an ice prison.

"Good work, Kala" said a voice at her feet. She looked down in time to see Majali appearing from nothing at her feet. He was smilling. Kala smiled back at him as all the other leapers disappeared in puffs of smoke. "Keep hiding as your doubles fight, old friend?" Majali laughed "Well, we use the talents we have."

Nick stared in awe to his rescuers. Then a voice called his attention "His mouth is really agape, isn't it Minnie?" Then another voice answered "He could swallow his own foot in one bite, Minnie."

Nick looked and saw in front of him two sickleclaws. One had the body covered in white feathers and the tip of the tail like the tip of the tail of a peacock, on her eyeridges was a red crest. The second had grey feathers and had not the tail ornament. Both had tan scales under the feathers, kind smiles and were wearing bracelets with the symbol of the order.

Nick was surprised, but recovered and said "Sorry, I didn't saw you two, and I was really surprised. My name is Nick." Cyrix walked to him and said "We know, as I said, my name is Cyrix, those are Majali and Kala." he said pointing to the leaper and the spikethumb.

Then it was the turn of the sickleclaws "I'm Minani and she is Minaple" said the white one "But we both are called Minnie, right Minnie?"

"Yeah Minnie." answered Minaple "And we are sisters, well, not proper sisters, are we Minnie?"

"Definitely not Minnie, but we could very well be after all, right Minnie?"

"Absolutely Minnie."

Nick stared at them for a few moments and said "Right." Cyrix then came and said "Would you like to be free from there, and meet with Lily?" Nick stared at him, and then said "Sure. I'd like to see her again."


	65. Freeing and Bringing Back

Part VII: Regrouping

The big group was now walking around the land. Both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth walked side by side, following Littlefoot and Chomper. Who in turn were following the members of the order, who were being lead by Balcan.

The group was kinda awkward. The sharpteeth were still thinking strange of this sudden change of their General. The leaf-eaters had an eye for the sharpteeth, in case of them trying anything. Yu and Sandstorm gave glares to Red and Jackel each chance they got, still thinking that maybe trusting Chomper was a bad idea, and the sickleclaws gave back the looks with same ferocity. The alimons simple eyed Garick with mistrust as the "X" marked alimon walked forward with the jade fast runner by his side.

Chomper and Littlefoot tried to keep the pace. Chomper even took forward and reached Salen. He then asked the jade sickleclaw "How long have your order existed?" Salen turned to him, surprised by the big sharptooth suddenly becoming interested. He turned back forward and said "Well, even we don't know exactly. But our stories tell that the order was first created a few generations after the seven brothers. Though many think it might be just rumors."

Chomper nodded and asked again "And is truth that leaf-eaters and sharpteeth live in peace in your valley? As friends?" Salen turned to him again. In his question he saw some sincere interest. He could only smile at the former evil General. He answered "Since we can remember there was peaceful relationships between species in our valley. It was difficult to do it, but it has been peaceful since long ago, according to my grandfather, though that were still being inhabitants that wanted to make things difficult." He finished with a bitter tone.

Chomper nodded. "And is truth that there are many members of the order?" Salen eyed him "You're making many questions now, you know?" "Normally I did few; when I was going to have my next meal and when I was going to get my revenge." Chomper recognized with shame. Salen gave him a sympathetic look, and then answered "Many of our valley are effective members of the order. Of course, most are their familiars and friends. The spirits don't choose anyone to receive the amulets and held the spirit's blessing."

Chomper nodded. "And where are the other members?"

"There are some here in the Great Valley. We divided in teams, as Balcan told us to do. Others are on the way to the Great Valley, and will meet us in the meeting rock, were the council of the Great Valley meets. And there is even one team in Fortress Valley."

Chomper was taken back by this "In Fortress Valley!?" Salen only nodded "We had to send someone to rescue the leaf-eaters that were prisoners in there."

Well, that Chomper understood. But he was still worried about the members "And they will be fine?" Salen smiled at him "Did you saw what the members of the order can do?" Chomper remained silence, and Salen continued "They can take care of themselves. They will be here soon enough."

* * *

Back in Fortress Valley, inside a large cave, sealed shut with a great rock, there were many leaf eaters, from all species and ages. From elders to you hatchlings. They all seemed sad. For long they have been prisoners in there, knowing that sooner or later they would be sacrified as food. Many had long abandoned hope of being free. Many only waited for the end to came over them. They knew that were no hope of ever escaping alive.

Or so they thought.

They heard a rumbling noise. A noise they knew and often feared. The entrance of the cave was being opened. This could only meant that the sharpteeth were going to take some of them to be eaten in the Feeding Area. They retreated and pressed against the opposite wall. The children started to cry, to be comforted by the oldest. No one was daring to fight, for they knew it would only make things more difficult. They expected big sharptooth to be on the other side. But they were surprised.

What moved the boulder was indeed a relatively small dino. It was a domehead, one strange with a metallic color and shine, with a belt with the symbol of the Order of Leaf and Claw in his waist.

The leaf-eaters were amazed as the small dino could lift the great rock over his head, and then thrown it aside. He then looked at then and said with a metallic voice "Hi, I'm Tim, and came here with my friends to save you." As soon as he spoke those words, a sickleclaw appeared on his side. The leaf eaters backed away, but Tim assured him "Don't be afraid, this is Bruce, one of my friends."

The sickleclaw waved at them, who only stared in fear at him. Soon another dinos appeared; the crestless swimmer, Lena and Denise. The crestless swimmer, Izzie, was carrying the unconscious sharpteeth fliers in his arms.

The others just stared at them. Lena stepped forward. The childs recoiled in fear, afraid that the strange dinosaur might did something for them. Lena looked at them sympathetic, and then waved her hands to them. The children them stopped felling fear and sadness, those feelings were replaced with a feeling of comfort and slight happiness. The children then smiled weakly, and this made Lena smile too.

This was soon cut out by a booming voice that said in sharptooth "What is this?" It was a great bonecrusher sharptooth, with the company of three flyer sharpteeth. The order then took fighting poses. "Kill then!" roared the great sharptooth, and then the flyers attacked.

One tried to attack Bruce, but soon as he reached the sickleclaw, the same's body turned into black smoke. The flyer feel to the ground, coughing as the smoke reformed into Bruces body and he turned to face the flyer. He then raised his hand and a burst of fire came of it, knocking the flyer back and out.

The others went to Denise. She only stared back at them and a wall of stone appeared in front of her. The flyers were startled by this, one was able to dodge, but the other went straight to the wall. Instead of hitting it, he passed through the wall like it didn't existed. He missed Denise and was meet by a punch in the face from Tim, that made a few of his teeth fall off.

The flyer watch astonished, but soon he recovered and went to Lena, she narrowed her eyes at the flyer, and then suddenly his heart was taken by an incredible feeling of fear. He stopped in his tracks and was about to fly out, but Bruce turned into smoke and flew to him, and them materialized again to kick him in the face, making him go unconscious.

The bonecrusher roared in fury, and then charged to them. Lena took the first line and stared directly at the sharptooth. Suddenly the bonecrusher was assaulted by a feeling. A feeling of extreme sadness. At first he tried to sake it off, but Lena narrowed her eyes, and the feeling became more powerful. The sharptooth soon was starting to cry.

The leaf-eaters were shocked. One of the cruel and heartless sharpteeth was now crying like a child?

The sharptooth steps were starting to be dragged. Soon the sadness was just too much for him. He knelt in the ground and laid down there, crying his eyes out. He didn't cared that he was suppose to be cruel and inflexible as he learned in his youth, nor he cared what the others would think, he was far too sad to care. Bruce then turns into smoke again and flies to the sharptooth. He enters his nose and mouth, and soon the sharptooth starts choking, in less than one minute he falls unconscious, and the smoke came out by his mouth, allowing him to breathe pure air again, and then reforms into the sickleclaw.

Tim then turned back at the leaf-eaters, who were staring in awe at them, he then said "Come on, we gotta get out of here."

* * *

Back at the Great Valley, the group was still walking, they passed by the places and features. The group was very awkward. Ali and Ducky were looking to the sharpteeth, afraid. Loc, among others, were whispering among them, questioning if they really should simply change their ways so suddenly, he too was confused by this sudden change in their General behavior. Blueye and Sylvia were walking close to Chomper, once again Blueye had not noticed her daughter's expressions, that seemed very much relivied.

Chomper and Littlefoot were too side by side and awkward to one another. They gave one another glances when they got the chance. Littlefoot was unsure of what to think or say about this sudden change of Chomper. Part of him was still telling that the sharptooth may be lying. But, the truth was that part of him wanted to believe that he could be his friend again. Chomper was far too ashamed of his actions. He felt guilty for them, and didn't knew what to say to Littlefoot right now.

They both noticed that the group in front came to a stop. Soon the rest of the group was able to stop and see what was in front of them.

It was the body of a grey runner. Hyp's body to be more exact. His body was not in good shape. It was possible to see in some parts of his body were eaten away by maggots and death-teeth (sorry, don't remember how vultures were called at the beginning) allowing to see his organs and bones, but it was still possible to say that it was him, his face was almost untouched, and was still possible to see his black expression and the slice in his neck that caused his death.

Not too far from the runners body it was possible to see what was left from, for what was possible to say, the corpses of his friends, Mutt and Nod. Both in very much the same conditions of the runner.

Some of the leaf-eaters had problems to hold their stomachs. And even some of the sharpteeth flinched at those tainted images by the time and decomposition.

The members of the order could do nothing but have a moment of silence for those poor souls. Only Balcan wasn't all down because of this. Because he knew what was going to come now.

Sylvia don't paid any much attention for the ones around her. She was too busy staring at Hyp's corpse. She didn't knew what was up to that runner since she saw him. First she had those strange feelings when she first looked eyes with him, and he just stared at her. Then when she saw him being tackled by her mother, she first thought was to went to him, to save him, which surprised even her. Then when his frantic hand grabbed her clawed hand, she felt like a sudden electric bolt like sensation through it. And then, when he lay there dead, she felt a strange feeling of sadness, a strange pain in her chest, and she felt this again each time she remembered him.

And now, that she was facing his body again, this feeling was arising again. She slowly walked, passing by the ones in her way, including her mother and the members of the order, all who stared at her as she slowly walked to the corpse.

Some thought that maybe she was going to have a bite of the flesh, though even many sharpteeth would avoid eating something that was dead for that long and tainted by so many maggots. But Sylvia only walked to the corpse and just stood there staring at it. She then felt a tear escape her eye.

What was that? Why was she crying? She had always been the most hardcore of the sickleclaw in Fortress Valley! Why now she was like that in front of everyone? Why this runner made she feel vulnerable?

She didn't had time to think more about it, as her attention,along with the group's, was called by the sound of something running up to them. They turned to see an egg stealer of light-grey color and light brown eyes with a ring with the symbol of the order in his hand.

"Jim?" asked Salen, he knew that the egg stealer had been sent along with other teams to different parts of the valley, he didn't knew exactly why, but Balcan had said it was important. And now the young egg stealer was running to the corpses in there.

Jim reached out for the body of Mutt, winch was now in front of him, and touched it. His ring shone bright, startling the viewers that saw it from far. Soon the damage done in the body was all gone, and the bignose woke up in a startle. Looking around frantically at all sides, trying to understand what happened. The last thing he remembered was the sharptooth, and then... But now he was there, with an egg stealer close to him. He got up and heard many gasps. He turned around to see many dinosaurs, leaf eaters and sharpteeth, staring at him with shock.

And the dinos were in fact shocked. They had just saw a dead raising back to life! Littlefoot and Chomper were both shocked, along with all others. Even the members of the order were shocked. Only Balcan was not, due to him already knowing this.

Jimmy then ran up the small hill. He then reached out for Nod's body and healed him, making him open his eyes in very much the same way as Mutt. The bignose was surprised, and why don't say happy, to see his friend back to life. Then Jim ran again and went straight to Hyp's body.

Mutt and Nod followed, and in the way came face to face with Loc, who was staring at them with wide eyes. They both took fighting poses at the sharptooth, who stared a few more at them, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell in the ground fainted. Mutt and Nod blinked at him, and noticed that the others too were staring at them.

Jim then arrived in front of Hyp's remains, facing Sylvia, who stared at him with wide eyes. He then reached his hand and touched the body. Soon the body started to heal. The damage done by other sharpteeth who sneaked a bite and the damage done by vultures and maggots soon started to disappear. As soon as they disappeared, the cut in the throat started to close. Then the light returned to his eyes.

Hyp then screamed, having his fists frantically, almost hitting Jim and making him and Sylvia back away. Sylvia looked perplex at the former corpse, she felt shock, but yet, she felt a strange feeling in her stomach, she didn't knew what exactly it was.

Hyp looked around, he then spotted many sharpteeth staring at him wide-eyed, some with jaws dropped. He turned ready to fight, and his eyes meet Sylvia's. He remembered the sickleclaw when he saw her, the way she made him feel, and it was starting again: the sweat, the feeling in his stomach, and Sylvia was very much in the same way. Both wondering what was going on.

Salen was speechless "W-w-w-what...? How...?" Balcan said "Remember that the spirits could do miracles when it was a special occasion?" The others all stared at him "Well, this is one of that occasions. There was not the time for them to die. It wasn't the time of anyone by the way." Salen just stared at the old rainbow face, not knowing what to say.

Then they heard a voice "Hey, guys!". It was Heater. The sickleclaw ran to them "Did you saw that?" she asked animated. Mutt and Nod turned to her and took fighting poses. Hyp's only kept staring at Sylvia's eyes, like he hadn't even noticed. Soon everyone perceives that she is being followed by many other dinos, a familiar voice calls out "Littlefoot!"

The longneck's heart skip a beat. No, this couldn't be. Or could? "Cera?" He sees the threehorn, healthy and proud running in his direction, At her side is running Spike, and above then, among other flyers, are Petrie and Pterano. He was stunned but recovered and smiled saying "Guys!" he ran to meet with then. Ducky too sees it, and says "Spike!?" Not believing her own eyes, and running to the meet him too.

They all meet in the middle way. Cera nudging Littlefoot, at the same time Ducky hugs her brother and friend. Both the longneck and the swimmer had tears in their eyes, both wishing that when they open it they didn't discover that was all a dream. Soon their friends broke their embrace, and the three former dead looked over to see Chomper.

The sharptooth was staring wide-eyed at them. His heart and mind racing. Part of him felt good and relived for seeing his friends alive again. But the dinos were not happy to see him. Petrie and Spike remembered all the General had done, and shared this information with Cera, who was even more affected by the information that he killed both her and her all adopted angry expression, and they all charged for the horned sharptooth.

Chomper gave one step back scared. They were coming straight to him when Littlefoot and Ducky put in the way. The three were confused "Why you protect him?" asked Spike.

"He only bring problem and pain." said Petrie.

"He deserves to die for all he have done." Said Cera.

Chomper lowered his head in shame. Rex then stepped forward "It was not his fault."

"Like you could talk." said Petrie "You betrayed us too." And this time Littlefoot intervened "They both were being controled."

The others stared at Littlefoot, then he continued "Well, it is kinda hard to explain."

"We can do it in the way" said Balcan "Now we gotta go."

"Agree." said Heater, and then Nod stepped forward and said "Ha, like we will trust someone who is friends with sharpteeth." Heater turned to him. "Are you saying that you don't trust me?"

"This is exactly what I'm saying." was Nod's aggressive answer "I'll not trust in a sharptooth, and Hyp too, right?" he finished turning to Hyp. But he had no answer, the runner was still staring at the sickleclaw in front of him, like nothing else existed.

Heater looked at him defiant "Wanna put a fight?" In this moment one of the leaf-eaters that was following her said "You better not buddy, believe me." Nod ignored and said "Show me what you've got." He then took a fighting pose. Heater stared in his eyes, and her eyes shone. Nod's eyes widened as a strange feeling ran into his body. Almost immediately, his body all stopped, his blood and heart stopped in its tracks. And then his body started to harden and became rock like. Soon his whole body had turned into solid rock.

Many gasped at the sight of the shieldback turning into stone, Mutt cried in shock "NOD!" this made Hyp snap out of it and look at his friend, and he gasped along with the others. Littlefoot, Ducky and Chomper were shocked too. Littlefoot and Ducky remembered then what had happened in the cave.

Heater slowly walked to the dino and patted his head, then Balcan said "Okay Heater, you had fun, now turn him back." The sickleclaw nodded and stared into the eyes of the petrified dino. Soon his body started to turn back from stone to flesh and retrieved his movement.

Nod saw the sickleclaw in front of his face, and then cried and backed away. "What!?" Once again everyone gasped, Mutt and Hyp ran to him "Nod! Are you alright, buddy?"

The nodosaurus looked at his friends and said "Yeah, why?"

"Dude, you was turned into a rock!" said Mutt, making Nod look confuse at him "I was? When?" They stared at him, and Heater chuckled. "It's okay, it is normal to don't remember."

Spike nodded without noticing. He indeed don't remembered when the stoneglare, according to Petrie's declarations, turned him into stone. And when she turned a bonecrusher sharptooth who was brought back into stone and back, he seemed to not notice that he had been stone. His thoughts were interrupted by Balcan's voice

"Well, we have enough for now." everyone turned to him "We are still needing to go to the meeting rock, we can put you in pair of everything in the way, and we can explain to the others who will find us there." He said as he walked by. Many of the dinos shared looks. Some where confused, some shocked, but all of them surely started following the rainbow face, wanting answers.


	66. The Great Meeting: Old and New Faces

Part VII: Regrouping

The group walked through the valley. It was only growing bigger was the groups of resurrected dinos joined it. All the group now wanted answers.

Balcan answered many of them in the way. He said that the spirits didn't wanted those deaths that happened in the war. So they gave the members of the order power to bring them back to life by growing their powers in a moment thing. He said that it was a rare occasion where the spirits made a great miracle. And these occasions where only in great things.

Chomper even asked to Sierra if this was like he came back. The sharptooth flyer laughed and said it wasnt needed. He had been called to go to the order when he was coming back to Fortress Valley, so he created a copy and send it to the place while he went to the Valley of Leaf and Claw. He also mentioned that he could feel when Chomper destroyed his copy.

During the trip, the dinosaurs that hasn't died put the others who were dead up of all facts that had transgressed. Many now knew of the things of the war and the things of the recent events. Hyp, Mutt and Nod took the news with mistrust. Mutt and Nod thought it might be all a scheme from the sharpteeth. Well, Hyp was quite unsure of what to think. He was sure of the scheme in most time, but every time that he made eye contact with Sylvia, he doubted it. They traded glances now and then, always moving away the look when their eyes meet.

Petrie, Spike and Cera heard too the news of Chomper and Rex. Well, they took the news, but were not ready to prontly believe that the two sharpteeth and changed. Well, like Littlefoot, part of them wanted to believe that they had not acted in their own accord, and actually, for the present situation they had enough reason to believe that it was truth. But Cera was still mistrusting about the sharpteeth, like many others.

After a while of walking they arrived in the Meeting Rock. And so they gathered in the place and waited.

They didn't had to wait much, as soon other groups arrived in place. Some members of order, followed by many dinosaurs that were brought back from death. After a while the amulets of the healers of the order stopped shining. Balcan said that it was because the ones who were to be brought back already were, and now this was done.

Others joined the group from their hiding places, between then Tria and Tricia.

"Cera!" screamed the pre-teen threehorn, running to her big sister. Soon they traded an emotive meeting. And not too after a voice called. "Girls!"

They all turned to see a familiar threehorn walking to them in a group with a dark-pink bigmouth by his side. One that was making water move in the air by moving her arms.

The threehorns gave almost no attention to the swimmer, though, they noticed the threehorn by her side. "Daddy!" they both said as they ran to him, Tria followed them "Topsy!" They all meet happy. Sharing a very emotive moment. Tricia was happy beyond words. She had received the news that her sister and father died, but now they were just fine.

Mr. Threehorn after a while broke the moment and his eyes turned to Chomper. His face adopted an angry look, and he snorted and ran to the sharptooth, aiming to pierce his belly with his horns. The sharptooth took one step behind in fear. The great threehorn advanced against him, when suddenly a tree grew in the way at unbelievable speed. He slammed in the tree, stucking his horns in it.

Many gasped as they saw it. The tree was a courtesy of Tiana, who made it grow. Then she said "No fighting now."

Threehorn snorted angry and yanked his horns out of the tree "And with what right do you put yourself to defend him?"he asked angry "After all he done."

"It was not my fault!" Chomper said. Threehorn then turned to him "Oh, really? You expect me to believe that your body was controled by something and made to do all those things without you wanting?" he said mocking, Chomper blinked at him and said "Yeah..."

"You think I'm an idiot?" he asked angry before charging again. Chomper quickly dodged, but not completely, being that one of the horns made a gash in one of his legs, making him hiss in pain. The threehorn soon turned around and get ready for another charge, but soon one yellow sickleclaw get in his way. It was Blueye.

"If you want him you will have to get through me." She said defiantly. The great bull only snorted and charged forward, intending to go straight over her, then suddenly a stream of fire crossed his way. This had been Rex.

"Enough of this!" he said, putting himself in the way between them. Threehorn snorted "I knew you could not be trusted. You were on his side the whole time."

Rex turned to him with anger, and then his body was enveloped in flames. The bull's eyes widened and he took a few steps backwards. Then Melissa get herself in the way. She then said "Okay, now you will behave and not attack anyone else."

"And if I don't want to obey you?" he asked, and then Melissa's eyes narrowed, and she started to grow in front of his eyes. He gasped as she grew more and more. She then grabbed the bull in one fo her hands and brought him closer to her face. "Why do you have to mistrust sharpteeth so much?"

"I guess that in the present situation you can't blame him." said one voice. Littlefoot held his breath, and turned to the source. And he saw, in a group, two longnecks that he knew far too well. "Shorty! Dad!" He screamed as he ran to their encounter. They too shared a very affectionate moment.

As soon as they broke it, they turned their eyes to Chomper. Shorty than said angrily "After all he'd done he should already expect that we don't trust a sharptooth." Chomper retreated a few steps, tumbling a little due to the wound on his leg. "You killed me, remember?" Asked Shorty. Chomper gave a few more steps back and said "I-I'm sorry."

"Yeah, like this fix anything." said Bron, in a more aggressive tone than normal. "You're just a coward. That's all you are."

"It wans't my fault." said Chomper "I was being controled." The great longneck than said "Yeah, and my name is not Bron."

In this moment, Melissa eyes turned to the longneck. She put Threehorn, who was squirming in her hand, in the ground and walked to him. "You're Bron?" she asked. Bron, surprised by seeing a sickleclaw so big, took a few moments to answer. "Yeah."

"Bron, the longneck?"

"Yeah."

Melissa nodded, and then, in a sudden movement, gave him a punch in the face that send him to the ground. The others gasped as the longneck was hit in the face.

Bron stumbled in the ground, and spat out two of his teeth, that had fallen out from the hit. He then looked shocked at Melissa, who was staring at him with anger and certain disgust. "This is for what you did to her!"

Bron looked confused at her and said "What!?"

"Melissa!" said Balcan "You didn't needed to do that." The sickleclaw looked at him and then gone back to her normal size. "Okay, sorry."

"That's it." said Bron "I really don't deserve being treated like that." Balcan turned to him "Who said you didn't deserved?" Bron looked at him surprised. In his eyes an expression very similar to Melissa's "I said that she didn't needed to do that. But you surely deserved." he said aggressively, leaving Bron stunned.

Soon their attention was drawned by someone who said "Hey, what is that?" They turned to the direction pointed and saw what seemed to be a rock flying in the sky. Over it there were a rainbow face, a shieldcrest, a long-skull sharptooth and a twocrest sharptooth. It were Lily, Dan, Jak and Jasper.

The rock flew over the place and then landed in the ground, and so everyone get in the ground. Dan then said happily "Thanks for using Dan's Airlines, be careful with the ground and come back for another trip."

They they all faced Chomper, Lily retreated some steps, and Jasper and Jak took fighting poses, Dan stepped foward and many rocks in the ground started circling around him to join in his body and form an armor made of stone. And so some bigger joined to make great arms of rock, he was ready to fight. But then Balcan intermitted "There is no need for this."

They faced the rainbow face "But Balcan, he-" said Dan, but the rainbow face assured "Chomper was fooled and was being used, and I guess that you know this. He is free now, and we don't need to fight him."

They took a few moments to analyse what has being said, then they dropped their guards. The rocks that made Dan's armor stumbled in the ground. "You better not being fooling us." threatened Jak, Red then laughed and walked to him. "And what could you do, little guy?" He tainted, the small shieldcrest looked at him, and then he started to grow in front of his very eyes. He kept growing and growing until he was a few feet bigger than Chomper.

He looked down at Red, who was trembling in fear, an knelt in front of him and kept face to face "Who is little guy, little guy?". Red stood fo a few moments as a noise like water was heard. The sickleclaw had just lost the control of his bladder! Sandstorm noticed this and chuckle to himself, the others simply ignored.

Jak raised up and looked at the Meeting Rock, this place is a little dirty." It was truth, there were leaves and small rocks all around the place, leaved there by the fight. "Delan, could you clean this up? We don't want it to be dirty when the council arrives.

The longneck nodded and stepped forward. He then started circling his tail in a place, wind was starting to form in the circle, and so Delan moved his tail, sending the circling wind to the ground and creating a small tornado at carried the dirty, dust, and even the liquid from where Red had lost control. Then the tornado, moving by the commands of the tail of the longneck, went away and undid itself, allowing the dirty to fall on the ground, away from the place.

Some saw it astonished, between them Shorty, who approached and asked the longneck "How did you do that!?", Delan laughed and said "Many members of the order have a spirits blessing, mine is to control the wind, see?" He create a single gust of wind with his tail that moved some dust. "And I can even use the wind to fly!" He said too. Shorty looked at him doubting, than Delan closed his eyes and focused. A gust of wind flew around him, and then he was lifted from the ground, hoving a few feet above it, much to Shorty's and another dinosaurs' shock. He laughed and landed gently in the ground.

While this, Chomper was now trading looks with the rainbow face that had arrived in the flying rock. She stood there and approached some cautious steps and looked in his eyes. "So, you're General Chomper. Nick told me about you." Chomper had his attention taken by the mention of Nick. That one must be Lily! He lowered a little his head and talked to her "Well, I imagine the things that Nick must have told you about me. I'll not lie and say that I didn't did any of them. But, I was being used by someone, I was fooled, and I want to make things right."

Lily was taken off guard by this. This sharptooth seemed really different from what Nick had described. She knew that he could be just pretending, but, his eyes and voice seemed honest. As honest as Nick's. She was about to reply when something dark-green landed right into Chomper's face, making him cry out in surprise as claws dug into his flesh. Lily recognized it "Nick!"

The green sickleclaw was coming with the group of the order, along with some other that he saw, astonished, being brought back to life. When they were coming closer, he saw something that made his blood freeze: Chomper standing face to face with Lily. In this moment he forgot what was told of Chomper stopping the war, and ran straight to them, thinking only in protect his beloved one.

Chomper shook his head up, down and to the sides, trying to shake the sickleclaw off of his face. He only felt the claws and teeth piercing his skin. After almost one minute of fight, Nick finally let go and landed in the ground, in front of Lily, facing Chomper with anger in his eyes "Touch her, and I'll rip out your guts!" he screamed angry, making even Lily flinch. She rarely saw Nick behaving like that.

"Ow, ow, ow, Everybody calm down." said Cyrix, running along with the group to catch up with Nick, the Minnies had some trouble due to their advanced age, but they were carried by Kala, who was too making water fly around her and was making Slam and Tan, both stuck into ice cocoons in their torsos, stumble behind her. Quickly they arrived there and Cyrix tried to calm everyone down. The story of Chomper being controlled was once again explained. Slam and Tan took the news with doubt, along with Nick, but Chomper's behaviour made them believe it, though Nick kept in front of Lily, like shielding her from Chomper.

In this moment the pink bigmouth, Layla, and the oversized spikethumb, Kala, approached Chomper with the water dancing around them. Chomper felt a little uneasy, but Layla assured him "Relax, we will not hurt you." As she said that, she and Kala enveloped their hands with the water, and it started to emit a faintly blue glow. Kala put her water enveloped hands into CHomper's face, in the place were Nick's claws and teeth had done the damage, and Layla put hers into the wound made by Threehorn into Chomper's leg.

Chomper flinched a little at the sudden contact with is wounds caused him pain. But, the pain started t fast subdue, and soon it disappeared. Kala and Layla removed their hands and the water from the wounds, revealing that they were now gone. And there wasn't even blood n the places, due to the water having washed it way.

and Nick had not been surprised, due to have seeing it before bringing the dead back. Chomper was surprised, he examined his face and his leg, seeing them perfectly fine. He looked at the dinos and said "Thank you."

"Hey!" called shorty "Could someone do the same for Bron?" he said gesturing to the old dinosaur by his side "He could use some help." At the mention of the name "Bron" Kala and the Minnies took their eyes to him.

"So, this is Bron?" asked Miname, staring at Bron with the same expression from Melissa and Balcan. Bron was quite uneasy and said "Yeah, its me."

Right after he said those words, Kala made a sharp move, making the ice imprisoning Slam and Tan turn into water, and making it dance and make a sharp hit into Bron's face, much like a slap.

Bron almost went to the ground again, and looked stunned at the spikethumb who was looking at him with anger. "What was that now!?" asked him, he didn't really expected an answer, that was given by Miname "This is the least that you deserve for what you did to her, right Minnie?"

"You can bet on it, Minnie!" answered Minaple, with the same aggressive tone.

Bron stared at them for a few seconds, and then, struck by a sudden light he said "Look, I had to leave my mate and the baby she was carrying because I was searching for a better place for us all to leave. I'd give anything to be with them in that moment."

The Minnies stared at him and Miname said "What is he talking about, Minnie?"

"I guess he is talking about that whispy longneck, Minnie."

"Hey!" Bron and Littlefoot talked at the same time, and Balcan put in the middle "Don't talk like that, show some respect for the dead."

Minaple looked at him and said "Sorry Balcan, but, you know what he did." The rainbow face sighed "Yeah, and he surely deserves all of this."

"Could someone tell me what is going on!?" said Bron, Bayron looked at him and said "Shut up! You heartless playboy." This shocked Bron, now he wanted more and more to know what was going on in there. He decided, for his own good, that was better his name not more be said in there.

Soon another great group approached, it was composed by many leaf-eaters and some sharpteeth, those last tied up with vines. The group was lead by Tim, Bruce, Denise, Lena and Izzie. They excused for being late, because Izzie had to teleport them in groups due to not being able to transport all at once. And soon they were put apart of things and joined them in the wait.

After a while of wait someone pointed to the sky and said "Look!" there were something coming from the sky, the closest dots could tell that were fliers, and Pterano and te gang could recognize one of them.

The more the longtail flier approached, more it became clear his features. The pink flier with the ring with the symbol of the order was coming closer. Rinkus them gently landed in the ground and said "Hello, friends."

"You!" said Pterano. Rinkus looked at him and said like to an old friend "Hello Pterano, it has being a while, hasn't it?" Soon the other two fliers landed by is side. The first was a male black sharptooth flier with a bronze beak and emerald-green eyes. In one of his finger was a ring with the same symbol. He had a serious, hardcore expression and seemed not to be around to play.

The second was a female longtail flier (Rinkus species) that was dark-pink with jade-green eyes, too with a ring of the order, she seemed to have a more friendly expression and seemed to be less inclined to kill if provoked.

Sierra took pass of Pterano and stood face to face with the black flier "So, they decided to let you have part in this mission? I guess that they should have thought that you were ready." he finished putting a hand in his shoulder. The sharptooth flier nodded and said "And I'm thankful for that, father."

Some were taken back by this, specially Pterano. "Father!?" Sierra looked at him and said "Yeah Pterano, I have a son." The female longtail flier became interested by this "Pterano?" she turned to Rinkus "Dad, is he the flier you told me about?" And once again Pterano was struck. Those two really had children?

Soon the attention was taken by another cry that came from the skies. Another figures were approaching, and those flew around really fast. The strange thing was that they seemed to glow somehow, leaving a small glowing trail behind then, like rockets. The figures started to approach the ground, and Littlefoot's eyes widened as he recognized both.

First Ozzie come landing with beams of a crimson, translucent force coming of his hands, in his waist a belt with the symbol of the order. He seemed very animated and was howling loud of emotion. The second was Strut, who too came with blue torches of strange energy, what today would be called of plasma, in his hands, in his neck a necklace with the same symbol, he seemed more controled than his brother, and just landed gently in the ground.

"I love to do that!" said Ozzie ecstasied by the emotion of flying. Strut then said smiling "Yeah, I like it too."

"You!" said Littlefoot stunned. "What are you doing there?"

The egg stealers turned to the longneck, like evaluating him "You've grown since last time we meet, young one." said Ozzie

Rex approached and asked "Littlefoot, do you know those two?" The longneck turned to him and said "Those are the ones I told you about years ago, the ones that tried to kill me and Chomper." Rex gasped and stared at the egg stealers, who were now looking at the ground, Ozzie with no apparent emotion, but Strut seemed somewhat guilty.

"I remember you two!" said Chomper suddenly, stepping forward. "You tried to kill me and Littlefoot!"

The egg stealers looked at them and sighed, Ozzie then said "Yeah, we did."

"But this is in the past now." said Strut "We have changed, and we want to make the right thing now."

Chomper and Littlefoot shared a look. Then the egg stealers that was in the group, Jim, stepped forward and said "Yeah, I don't know much about their past, but I can say that they deserve some credit for the way they behave now."

Everyone looked at him, Ozzie then walked to him and said "Doing a good job around here, Jimmy?" Jim sighed, and said "Hi dad." Chomper and Littlefot were surprised by this.

"Dad?" said Littlefoot, and Jim looked a him "Yeah, this dude is my old man."

"Then how do we known that we can trust you?" asked Chomper, Jim stared back at him and said "How do we know we can trust you?" CHomper remained in silence and lowered his head. Then a voice came booming from above "Incoming!"

Everyone looked up to see a platform made of some kind of translucid pink energy, with some creatures, between them was a pink egg stealer with yellow eyes, and she was the one responsible for that transportation. Strut then screamed to her "Lisa! Be careful, darling!"

"Oh, come on dad, I can take care of myself, quit worrying so much." the egg stealer, Lisa, screamed back. And Strut screamed again "Just be careful, okay? You're new to this thing of flying, remember?"

Lisa rolled her eyes, and proceeded to control the platform and gently bring it towards the ground. Rex stepped forward to watch with the others as the platform went gently to the ground. He then spoke to Littlefoot and Chomper "So, the egg stealers that tried to kill you both now have children?"

"We're as shocked as you." said Littlefoot. He was still trying to ge that the egg stealers were parents now. That was when another voice, a male, elder, and yet, familiar voice, called their attention. "Yeah, perfect landing, and good maneuvering."

Littleffot turned and gasped. Rex felt his blood freezing in his veins. He slowly turned to the source of the voice, and he saw, walking among the dinos that were in the platform, that dissolved as touched the ground. It was a sickleclaw of brown color with light-brown belly and chest, in his back and tail stripes of black color. He walked among the dinos. "I'm really impressed that you did it so well, Lisa, considering your little practice in-" but suddenly stopped talking and his eyes widened when they meet Rex's.

Rex stood there, shaking like a leaf on the wind, his mind racing. No, this wasn't possible. There was no way. Had he gone insane? It was no way of this being real. Yes, it was all a dream, and he would wake up at any second. But he did not wake up, and the sickleclaw narrowed his eyes at him and said "You!"

(yes, I asked Sora's permission to use him, along to make some changes)

Rex soon convinced himself that it was no dream, and that maybe, for all he had seen today this could very much be real. "Z-Z-Z-Zill!"

Yes. It was him. Zill. The dinosaur that tried to break in the valley years ago. The first creature he killed and ate. The one responsible for his dark side taking control and for him having to leave the valley. The one he saw dead long ago, right in front of his eyes.

Zill snarled "What is he doing here!?" he asked Balcan sounding somewhat surprised. "And why does he have one amulet?" He said too pointing to the necklace of his.

"Well, it would be because he is a member of the order." said Balcan neutrally, what granted another snarl from Zill. In this, the other broadnose flyer (how Rex species is called in LBT world) Lara, stepped forward and asked Zill "Dad, do you know him?" Rex turned stunned to her "Dad!?"

Lara was a little surprised by Rex reaction, he just looked at Zill and back at her "Dad!?" he said pointing at Zill, still not believing. Lara then spoke "Humm, yeah. Well, he is not my real father, but he created me since I was young." Rex just stared back at her, and pointed to Zill again "Dad?"

"Your brain has tilted?" asked Zill, Lara then turned back to him and said "But, dad, do you know him?" Zill sighed and crossed his arms. "Yeah, you can say that we knew each other, long ago."

"Say you!" said Rex aggressively, startling Lara, but Zill remained impassive. "What do you are doing here? And how the heck are you alive!?"

Zill rolled his eyes, and then showed him his hand, in that was possible to see a silvery ring with the symbol of the order, then he spoke "I'm member of the order like you, for what it seems, and how I'm alive, well, I guess that is not of your business." he finished angrily. Lara was surprised, she rarely saw the sickleclaw like that. "Dad!"

Zill sighed "Sorry Lara, but I guess that is hard for me to be nice with someone who killed me!" he said accusingly. Many mumbled around them as hearing this, Lara turned to Rex, backing away some steps "What!? Dad, this is the guy you told me about?"

"Yeah, Rex, in the flesh." he said, staring at Rex, who stared back at him "And I'm proud of it. And I guess that it was you to blame, since you tried to attack the valley along with Bull." Zill narrowed his eyes, but Lara was the one who snarled angry "He changed!" she said angrily to him. "He is not this kind of dinosaur anymore!"

Rex stared at her "Yeah, right!" he said, not believing "This bastard created you. He must have filled your head with the same load of crap Gris did to Chomper. You're just a fool girl being used, and if you really known the truth, so you're just an evil sharptooth without any decency just like him!"

Suddenly Zill roared loud, startling many, including Lara and Rex. He then stepped forward and moved his arm forward into a punch. But, before his arm could make contact, it was surrounded by a crackling energy, and it busted in an explosion. Everyone was startled, and Rex was threw back by the explosion and landed with a thud. He seemed fine, but he clutched his darkened chest in pain and coughed up some blood. Littlefoot quickly came to him, along with Chomper

"Rex!" Chomper screamed, and Littlefoot asked "Are you okay?" Rex coughed up a little more of blood, and then said "I guess I just coughed out my lung."

Zill then snarled again, making the others look at him. He was with his teeth bared and his hands surrounded by crackling energy. He snarled "No one talks like this about my daughter."

Rex quickly get up, with some struggle, and ignited his hands, surrounding then into fire. Zill stopped, but quickly recovered "Well, you have some tricks too, but burning things is not as good as blowing then up. He said, creating small explosions in his hands, like a small firework, and then he started advancing again, and Rex too advanced against him, but before they could attack, a screen of pink energy formed between them, separating them.

Surprised, Rex shoot flames over the screen, but they hit it and were ineffective. Suddenly a body of water moved around him and washed him, extinguishing the flames, before freezing and getting him stuck until the neck in ice, courtesy of Layla. At the same time, the earth under Zill's feet started to move, and the rocks moved, getting him stuck into a cocoon of rock untill the neck. This one was made by Dan.

Both of them were surprised, and struggle into the new made prisons, that was when Balcan stepped between them, and looked deeply into both's eyes. "Stop this, you're acting just like kids." Rex and Zill looked away, Balcan turned to Zill "And you, Zill, I really expected that you had gone past this kind of behavior." The sickleclaw snarled.

Balcan sighed and gestured positively to Layla, and then she moved her arms, making the ice turn back into water and freeing Rex, she then walked to him and put her hands, enveloped in water and glowing blue, into his chest, quickly relieving the pain.

Dan was about to release Zill, but he roared loud and his body cracked with energy, right before it produced a great explosion, blowing up the rocks and sending pieces of it flying everywhere. Some great pieces flew into Ozzie and Strut's direction, Ozzie shoot crimson cracking rays of kinetic force, one of them exploded a rock. And strut produced shoots of plasma, that quickly vaporized the rocks that hit. Some flew over Lisa's group, but she created a forcefield to protect her from the stones, that were halted when they hit it.

Soon the dust cleaned, and Zill was standing in a crater in the ground, completely unharmed. He cleaned a little dust from his body and walked out of the hole he opened. Balcan rolled his eyes and said "Do you always has to do this?" Zill rolled his eyes too, and now his eyes once again meet Rex's. They made a staring contest, both showing his teeth. Balcan then took word again "It really doesn't matter what happen ed between you two in the past, you two are members of the order now, and as members you have to respect each other. For what is known both of you can be trusted, and you will have to learn to trust in one another."

Zill and Rex scowled, Balcan shoot both a serious glance. They then looked at each other again, their eyes narrowed. And then, Zill moved his hand forward, offering it for Rex. The dracovol looked mistrusting at the claw, but slowly moved his own hand and, reluctantly, shake it a little. They remained like that for a few moments before quickly making it apart. Balcan sighed "Well, it is enough for now."

Soon another arrived into the place, many coming from groups that were teleported, others coming by flight from different methods. There was an interesting incident, were some great shadows projected over the place, and the dinosaurs gasped by seeing that they belonged to great creatures that seemed a little like longnecks with sharp teeth and claws. The flamebreaths landed into the ground. One of them having landed into an advantageous place into the Meeting Rock, it was Zeiran, in his all impressive sight. Soon the other members of the council joined him, and soon the dinos of all kinds were gathered into the place.

The Meeting Rock never had been so full of dinos before in all its history.

Soon the questions started to emerge, many making several questions at the same time. Zeiran silenced them all with a mighty roar. The place became silence, and Zeiran put a silvery metal sphere, with the symbol of the order, into the middle of the Meeting Rock, and then he turned back to the group. "Well, I guess were all here already."

It remained silence for a while, and then Jackel stepped forward "What is this all about?" he asked, granting everyone's attention. "That Slasher was really a fake one? We all were really used? And what is this all about?" He sighed and said "We all were really fooled?" Zeiran avaliated him for a while with his sharp, intelligent eyes, and then spoke "I rather say yes. You all of Fortress Valley were fooled long before Gris was even born."

This made even Chomper confused. The Slasher they meet before was Gris, how could they be fooled before he was born, this didn't made sense. Many now were making questions, asking what that meant. Zeiran roared loud again, to make everyone go silence, and Balcan spoke to him "I guess that they should see it to understand, specially Chomper."

Zeran looked at him "You want to tell all them her story?" Balcan nodded. Chomper then spoke "Tell who's story?" Zeiran and Balcan nothing said, he stood there, in front of the rock, holding his necklace and enchanting strange words, more magic than anything. Then rock then started to glow faintly, and from it raised a fog-like light, that formed what seemed to be a sphere. Balcan then spoke "This is the story of one member of the order." His voice seemed somehow sad "A great member. And her name was Nila."

In the fog, formed the image of an white female sharptooth with red eyes, in her neck was a necklace with the symbol, in her face a kind smile, and her eyes were gently. She was beautiful.


	67. Nila's Story 1: The Kind Sharptooth

Part VII: Regrouping

"Wow! I would like to know her!" asked Slam, grinning wide to the sight of that beautiful sharptooth. She was not a bonecrusher like him, but was surely beautiful. Enough to gain half of the sharpteeth in their attention, and even of some leaf eaters.

She had beautiful shiny in her eyes, along with perfect skin and shiny white teeth, that made good pair with her beautiful scales, and both beautiful face and body, all this combining to create what some would say, was the most beautiful sharpteeth they had ever laid their eyes upon.

Balcan adopted a quite sad look, along with others, like Bayron, Melissa, Kala, the Minnies and Zeiran "She was part of the order years ago." Was all that Zeiran said. "She was born into a normal family. She was the only survivor of a clutch of seven eggs."

"Wow." was all that Yu could say. He too didn't understand what this sharptooth had to do with all the things that happened until now, but he decided to listen. Zeiran sighed and said "When she was born, it was a hard time. Her parents weren't exactly the parental kind, and it was even harder because she was born all white."

Snowbound, that was among the sharpteeth, nodded. For some dinos, when a dinosaur suddenly is born white, it is a sigh that the kid is a bad thing, or that it probably will not live long, being weak and sick. Some even said that it was a sigh that the child would bring problem and tragedy to all the pack if not abandoned or killed in the spot. She remembered she had hard time when she was young, and had to struggle to make her place into the army. And yet, there were some who gave her stares and squints.

Zeiran continued "She grew hard, and had to struggle to live." As the great wyrm talked, the images cast by the silvery rock changed, to show a small white sharptooth, trying to climb up a hill to follow its parents. "It was specially hard to her to survive, because she didn't like to kill other dinosaurs."

This caught the attention of many dinos. A sharptooth that didn't liked to kill? Zeiran continued "In the place were many would simply hunt down leaf eaters to simply kill and eat them, she would try to play with them, laugh with them, and try to be friends with them." And the images changed, showing the young Nila trying to make friends and play with leaf-eaters hatchlings. Many mumbled among them at those words and the images.

Chomper was, in fact, happy, for knowing that some sharpteeth wanted to have good living with the leaf-eaters, and felt sympathetic for her. Yu and Rex felt very much the same.

"Though Nila was of a great hear, her parents accepted her even less due to her attempts to make friends with what was supposed to be her food." Zeiran said "That was a time were she simply couldn't live with her family anymore, so she ran away." The image once again changed, now showing two adult sharpteeth sleeping as young Nila walked pass them. She turned back and nudged both one last time, before finally running away to the Mysterious Beyond.

"She lived in the Mysterious Beyond by her own?" asked a shocked Spellbound. Normally a sharptooth hatchling had to stay along with the parents, or die either by starvation or killed by another dinosaur. That not to mention the many risks that a lone hatchling could suffer by being without any parents around.

Zeiran turned to him and said "Yes, for some time she had to live alone in the Mysterious Beyond. And it was hard to her." The images show now the same hatchling, but now looking very thin and weak, having difficult to walk. "She almost didn't make it out." Zeiran said, and the small sharptooth fell to the ground, looking completely exhausted.

"So, it was her end." said Jackel "Well, you couldn't wait different from a sharptooth that don't kill to survive." Chomper silenced him with a dead-glare, along with Yu and Rex. Zeiran then cleared his throat and said "Well, many would not have so luck like her, but for what it seems, the spirits were looking for her." As Zeiran said those words, the images that showed the sharptooth, now showed a great shadow covering her from the fierce sun. She opened her eyes and looked up, to see a great dragon looking down at her.

Chomper's eyes widened "Hey, it is you!" he pointed to Zeiran, who only nodded. The young Nila recoiled in fear, and ready for being eaten, but instead of attacking, the great wyrm reached out and gently brushed her side with his great claw, granting her to look at him. He showed her a kind smile, and gently picked her up, and soon raised flight.

Zeiran sighed as everyone now looked at him "I'm not sure why I did what I did, maybe the spirits were guiding my actions, maybe I just was being soft. But I couldn't just let that poor kid die there, alone. So I took her to our valley." The images changed again, to show Nila, now more wealthy, eating lots of bugs and fish.

Zeiran chuckled at himself "She just loved our valley, she loved to see leaf-eaters and sharpteeth being friends and playing together, like she had dreamed." the images showed the young Nila playing with young dinos of different species, all laughing together and playing along like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"She soon became interested in your healers ways" the images changed to show her, a little older, at the side of an elder sickleclaw that was applying some mix of herbs in the wound of a threehorn. The sickleclaw was talking to Nila, who seemed completely focused.

"She was dedicate, had a good heart, and dreamed of the world being a perfect place for both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth. So, I guess that no one was surprise when she became a member of the order." The images now show Nila in front of the Great Stone of Cold Fire, soon a piece of it separated from the great rock, and flew right to Nila's neck. It stopped there and turned into a necklace. Nila looked surprised at it, and smiled brightly.

"I guess that a few times I had seen someone as happy as her in the moment she received her amulet and discovered its powers." said Balcan. And the images changed to show Nila reaching out for a wounded spiketail, touching his wound, and making it quickly disappear without leaving any mark. "Nila was one of the best healers our valley ever had. She never complained over her work, and only cared about the good of the others. But yet." he said with some anger in his voice "There were people who didn't like her simply because she was different." The images changed.

* * *

Nila was now taking care of a small spikethumb in the ground. The little one had cried, it was of a shade of blue with black feather running down her back. She stopped crying as soon as Nila removed her hand. She got up and kicked her leg a little "Thank you, miss Nila." She said, Nila smiled at her and said "You're welcome Kala. And I already said that you can call me just Nila."

"Oh, okay miss- I mean, Nila." the young Kala corrected herself. Nila smiled at her, and soon a voice called her attention, as well as the one of the young spikethumb. "Kala!" they turned around to see three other kids and two adults coming over. It were younger versions of Bayron, Melissa, Zera, Miname and Minaple.

"Hi, Bayron. Hi, Zera, Hi Melissa." she greeted, the two-crested swimmer approached her and asked "Are you okay? I heard that you had fallen from the hill." Kala nodded "Yeah, I did. But Nila healed me, she is the best in all the world.

"Yeah, she knows a lot of healing, right Minnie?" said Minaple, and Miname answered "She may really be the best, may not Minnie?" and Minaple answered "You can bet on it Minnie."

Nila could only laugh a little. Miname had arrived recently in the Valley of Leaf and Claw, and by what she had heard, she was quite delighted for finding out about the friendship between sharpteeth and leaf-eaters. And had heard too that she and Minaple, due to having so much alike, started walking together and often considered one another sisters. They too didn't like the thing of eating another dinosaurs, so it wasn't surprise when they quickly became friends with her.

"She really is the best!" said Melissa, "Once I broke my arm and she fixed it again." then Bayron talked "Once I was sick and she healed me really fast, no other healer would do it like she does. She is the best!"

Nila just stood there, listening to the nice comments that the children did about her and blushing at them, they all looked at her with respect and admiration. Nila was only able to smile at this, it felt good to doing the good to others.

"Well, at least a sharptooth here helps." came a voice from behind, everyone quickly looked around to face a dark-green longneck with a scar over the side of his neck. the Minnies quickly groaned. This guy again.

"Oh, hello Sauron." Nila greeted friendly. Sauron smiled at her and narrowed his eyes "Well, well, how many times I have to keep telling?" he said in an annoyed tone "You sharpteeth don't have to keep this pretending near me. You can fool the others with this play of nice, but I'm not this easy fooled." The minnies snarled at him, but Nila raised her hand for them to stop. She then turned back to Sauron "Sauron, I know that you have already your opinion about sharpteeth, but you have to believe that things can get better for both. I believe in it, and I hope you can see it too."

Sauron looked at her for a few seconds, and then started chuckling, he walked to her and, without a warning, slammed her with his tail, sending her to the ground. The ones in there gasped as one, and the sharpteeth in the place snarled. They were about to jump on him, but Nila said "No!", they turned to her, she gestured for them to keep it down, and so they did, but Zera asked outraged "Why did you did it?"

Sauron turned to her and said "Two reasons: Firstly, because she is a sharptooth, a cruel and emotionless predator who may seem friendly, but will probably eat you if you give her your back." This granted him dead-glares of Bayron, Melissa and the Minnies. "And second, because she is a freak, just look at her." he said gesturing to the fallen dinosaur "Who many times did you saw someone who was completely white. This isn't natural, and last time someone like that was born in my herd, many died from sickness."

The group was now glaring angry at him, but he ignored "Besides, freaks like her don't have long life, even with help." He approached her, seeing her face that looked back at him, not with anger, but with sadness. He chuckled and said "Tell me, Nila, do you want to hurt me?" she looked him in the eyes, he laughed "Of course do you want." she turned her look away. Then it came another voice "Enough, Sauron."

Everyone turned to see a younger version of Balcan. His eyes burning in anger "Leave her alone right now." each word was shaking with anger "She did nothing, and I doubt the council would like to know what you are doing in this moment." Sauron looked at him and shrugged "Okay then." he turned around and started to leave, but had time to look at Nila one last time and say "You may fool the others, but I am smart, besides, like I said, freaks like you, without colour, blind, deaf, who think that doesn't need to eat meat, or any other strange thing that appears around, you don't live very long." then he turned around and walked away. Nila looked in his direction for a while, and then to the ground, closing her eyes.

* * *

Many who just saw this scene were completely revolted. Specially the sharpteeth, Even the leaf-eaters were completely shocked by this show of ignorance and prejudice, even Mr. Threehorn was in shock for how that longneck could be insensible. Balcan then spoke again "Really, there was guys like that living in our valley, and they had opinions like that about the different. For then it didn't matter that Nila was the kindest dinosaur in the whole world, she was different, and it was enough reason to mistreat her."

"This is horrible!" said Sylvia. Melissa nodded, and Miname said "He was a horrible person." Minaple agreed "He sure was Minnie." Chomper turned to Balcan "You let him live in the valley?" Balcan sighed "He was allow, along with his herd. He was just one bad fruit in one tree. We thought it was worth to handle him for the good of his group. The images continued

* * *

"What a despicable dinosaur!" said Miname, Minaple said "He sure is Minnie. If he was nicer then the sharpteeth would not want to bite off his neck." Miname agreed "Sure thing, Minnie."

"This kind of guy has a kind of hate that feeds of itself." said Balcan "Luckily other dinosaurs of the Valley of Leaf and Claw have a better opinion about the others." Everyone nodded. Nobody noticed that Nila had already get up and was walking.

"The kids of his herd are not mean like him." said Kala. Balcan nodded "They had open-minded and are good kids, I just hope he can't poison their minds with his ideas-Nila?" he asked as the sharptooth passed in front of him. She seemed lost in thought as she walked away. The others shared a look and went after her.

(the music is God Help the Outcasts; from the Huntchback of Nothredame, rewrite and adapted)

She gently caressed her amulet as she walked, almost unaware that she was being follow. A soft song started playing as she walked. Sauron's words about the different not lasting long still in her head. She kept walking for a while, half-conscientious of where she was going, until she could see over the trees, the top of the Great Rock of Cold Fire. She sighed as she thought about the teachings of the order, the seven brothers, and she sang softly "I don't know if you can hear me, or if you're even there." the others following her listened to the song singed by her beautiful voice. "I don't know if you would listen to an albino's prayer." she sang as she walked "Yes I know, I'm just an outcast, I shouldn't speak to you. But still I think of it and wonder: were you once outcasts too?"

She walked as the others followed her "Spirits help the outcast, hungry for birth. Show them the mercy they don't find on Earth. Spirits help those people, we look to you still. Spirits help the outcasts, or nobody will." She finally could see clearly the place in front of the great rock, there were many dinosaurs in there. Many were not members of the order, but they all were praying, after all, many considered this rock sacred "I ask for health." someone sang "I ask for fame." they sang "I ask for glory to shine on my name." then a female tubehead sang "I ask for love." Then others sang with her "I can posses." they raised their hands and heads in praying "I ask for you in your glory to bless me."

As she watched, Nila walked around to avoid the crowd, when she was out of their hearing, circling around the rock, she sang again "I ask for nothing. I can get by. But I know so many less lucky than I." The others followed her "Please help those people, with their pains and goodbyes. I thought we all were the same in your eyes." The others watched her as she sang the final verse "Spirits help the outcast, all the same in your eyes." she sang the last part, knelt in front of the great rock, and put her hands together in prayer.

The others watched from far for a while, and then approached her. She was quite surprised, but they to knelt and started praying with her. She smiled, and a tear escaped her eye. They all prayed together.


	68. Nila's Story: A Strange in Need

Part VII: Regrouping

All the dinosaurs looked at the final fading scene, many touched, some with tears in their eyes. Bron was watching with attention for the image of the horned sharptooth, now disappearing, along with Chomper. In the moment they heard her voice, they felt it strangely familiar, but they couldn't point out why.

They thoughts were interrupted by Balcan's voice "Nila, besides being one of the best healers of the order, was one of the most gentle and kind dinosaurs from the order."

"One of them?" said Minaple "She was the most, right Minnie?" Miname then answered "Yeah, she sure was Minnie." they both had a note of sadness in their voice. Chomper noticed it, so it wasn't hard to him to figure out what happened. Balcan continued "She was really very kind, she doesn't cared to suffer if it was for the good of others. And she was always willing to help anyone who needed, even if this dinosaur was cruel to her."

"Even that Sauron?" asked Blueye Miname snorted "I lost count of how many time she saved his miserable life." she said angered, and then Minaple said "And after all of this he never once ever cared being nice to her or even saying thank you. No, he was always a despising dinosaur."

Many couldn't help but share the anger of them. One dinosaur that was still having bad opinion about all sharpteeth, even owning his life to one, and even hurting this same dinosaur. Not even Threehorn was that prejudiced.

"He is still live in your Valley?" asked Lily, it was Balcan who answered "He died years ago. He got sick and Nila was not there to cure him, and no one else was close enough to help him. He made everyone go away of him with his ways, so no one was close to help him when he needed."

"He got what he deserved, in my opinion." said Minaple "Agreed." said Miname. Even Lily, being normally kind with others suffering, had to admit that it was a fate well-fitting for someone like this Sauron.

"But." said Balcan "Or story has not finished yet. Matter of fact, it is only in the beginning." That was when Yu talked "Excuse me. Who does this sharptooth has to do with the war or the things that happened in Fortress Valley?"

"Just be patient and pay attention." answered Balcan calmly "I'll answer everything in the right time." And so he turned back to the fog over the stone, that was spiraling as to create another images "Of course, as member of the order, Nila had to do works for us. Work that, until little time ago, consisted in basically searching and finding stones of could fire."

This called some dinos attention, between them Pterano, who said surprised "Stones of cold fire!?" Balcan turned to him calmly and said "Yes my friend, stones of cold fire."

"Oh, please!" said Threehorn in an annoyed tone "Not again with the talk about those damned stones. They do not exist!"

"I have to disagree." said Zeiran "I bet you would say the same thing about my species by yesterday, wouldn't you?" Threehorn remained silence and Zeiran continued "The stones of cold fire are real. They're the gift from the spirits to the world. Is from the material they're made, a manifestation of the spirits' power, that or amulets are fabricated. And one of your missions is to collect them when they come and have storage of the material for all the members of the order.

Some nodded at this. Littlefoot them asked "So, this Nila was sent to search for one of the stones?"Was Balcan who answered "Yes, in fact she was. It was a significant happening, not only because of the stone, but because of the thing that happened in this mission, and the events by it unfold." As he talked, the fog from the stone spiraled and produced light and colors, showing a scene from a distant past.

* * *

Nila was right in front of Zeiran with a serious expression. By her side was standing a crestless swimmer, one purple with green eyes, and black purple running down his back and his limbs, and a lighter shade of violet for his belly and chest, in his chest was glued a brooch with the symbol of the order, he couldn't be much older than a teen, it was Collin, a recent joined member of the order. Along with them was a light-brown sharptooth with a ring in his hand with the same symbol, and a blue spiketail with the same ring in one of his spikes of his tail.

Zeiran looked at them seriously one last time and spoke "I think its not needed to remember you of how much is important to retrieve this stone. And remember, be discrete and careful. We never were found out about by other dinos and it will not change today." the past part was a little sound of warning. But if the dinos noticed they hide it very well, as they simple bowed. They then put themselves together, and Collin closed his eyes and soon they all vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

The other looked back at Zeiran as the images faded, Shorty even said "Man, you're a nervous one, aren't you?"

Zeiran looked back at him and said "Well, in that time keeping secret about us was the most priority." he seemed a little kind of ashamed for admitting it, due to the recent events. "But, I guess that its past now."

"He is right." said Balcan "But, its in other past we are focusing right now. Now, if we must keep concentration..." he said, turning back to the fog, which again was spiraling, producing other images.

* * *

The images now showed the group walking in a distant wasteland. They all seemed to be searching, but at the same time having attention for their amulets. Collin was obviously anxious for this being his first real mission. The other two, being older, seemed more serious about all of this, due to being older and having more experience in this kind of mission. Nila was nervous, due to being this the first time she was in a mission like this, but by her countenance, some could say that she actually looked distracted thinking of something, something that was not exactly pleasurable.

Collin seemed to notice this, and turned to face her "Nila, is something wrong?" he asked in his young masculine voice. She was a little startled, but calmed down and looked to the ground "No, its nothing. I'm just thinking."

"About what?" asked Collin. Nila sighed, and said "My life has changed a lot since I was a hatchling Collin. I grew up, joined the order, turned into a healer..."

Collin stared at her "But, this is good, right?" he asked unsure. Nila was able to give a weak smile to him "Of course it was! I didn't wish my life to be in any other way." but her smile died down "But, is still there is a lot that seemed to not happen yet."

Collin stared confused at her, and she said "The world is still having misunderstanding between sharpteeth and leaf-eaters, there is still fight and prejudice, and there are still deaths." She seemed really sad about this as she talked "And the worse part is that this all could be stopped if we simply stopped hiding and did something about it. But we keep there doing nothing!" she seemed really sad talking about all of this "This just feels so wrong..."

Collin looked at her with sincere compassion. Yes, he shared of this feeling, and by what he got from other members of the order, they did it too. He placed a hand in her leg to reassure her, and then spoke "C'mon, don't let this bring you down. Things are going to get better. We can't keep in secret forever." He smiled at her "We will reveal ourselves to the world, and when we do, we will change it for the better. You will see."

Nila was able to give back a weak smile to him, but she said "Thanks, but, is not only that..." Collin looked at her "What it is so?" Nila sighed, and said "I'm not sure. It's just... This feeling."

"Feeling?" asked Collin, Nila then said "Yes. I keep having this feeling from sometime now. Its like... Its like there is something missing in my life. Like is something that I still do not have, something that I miss without having know what it is. Something to make my life complete. Do you understand?"

Collin nodded and looked at her, and said "No."

Nila was able to chuckle from him. She would have tried to explain it better, if their attention have not been called by one strong male voice saying "We found it!"

They both turned to the source of the voice, that was the light-brown bonecrusher sharptooth, David. He was holding his amulet with his hand; it was vibrating and emitting a low buzz and a faintly blue glow. The amulets had also this searching characteristic so they could react this way when near a lost stone of could fire.

Everybody understood it, and went after him. He was in the entrance of a cave, and as the others approached, their amulets were still manifesting the same traits. Collin looked inside "This is in there?", he asked, and David answered "Yes, I'm sure."

"So, what are we waiting for?" asked the female spiketail, Gabrielle, as she stepped forward in the cave, the others shared a look and followed her.

The inside of the cave was big, it was a faintly light that allowed Gabby and Collin limited sight, but David and Nila had no problem navigating, and also to guide them in this ambient.

They walked for a few minutes, and as they did, their amulets grew in the buzzing and the glow. They were coming closer.

They finally found it. It seemed made out of the same silvery material from their amulets. It had a faintly glow around it like blue fire, but it actually had not heat at all. They could safely approach and even touch the stone.

Their amulets stopped pulsating, and Nila held her and concentrated, it emitted another faintly glow as she thought _Zeiran, we found it_. Soon she received an answer as a voice in the back of her head saying _Good, now bring it back_.

She let go of her amulet, which stopped glowing, and turned to the others and nodded. David then said "Okay, everybody, I think this mission went really well. We got the stone and no one noticed us. Now lets get back with the stone to the valley and consider this case closed."

All the others nodded, they started to get together with the stone, getting ready to return to Valley of Leaf and Claw. But it was when Nila heard a voice, a weak and hurt voice saying "H-help."

She turned to the direction from where she thought she had heard the voice, it was no one in sight. But then she heard it again, and this time she was sure "P-please... Somebody... Help me"

Nila turned to the source of the voice, in the other end of the cave "Where are you?" she asked. The others looked at her, and Danny asked "Nila?" And then she heard it again "I-I'm here. P-please, help me. I'm gonna die."

Nila now was becoming worried, the others looked at her, and Collin asked "Nila, what is wrong?"

"There is someone hurt in here." she said "He is dying." was all she said before walking to the direction the voice came, ignoring the surprised looks in the others' faces.

"Nila, wait!" said Gabrielle, but Nila ignored her and kept walking, Collin went after her, and Gabrielle and David shared a look, before David rolling his eyes and too went after them, Gabrielle shoot the stone of cold fire one last look before following them while thinking _Zeiran will not be happy for this._

Nila followed through the cave, with her friends hot in her hells, she finally get in another opening in the other end. She arrived in what seemed a clearing hidden in the other side of the cave. There were soft grass growing in the ground, with trees full of treestars in the branches. And the place was feed by water coming from a respectable sized waterfall that formed a lake of clean and crystalline water.

The others arrived right after her, Collin whistled at the sight of the hidden small paradise in that place. Gabrielle approached and talked to her white sharptooth friend. "Nila, what are we doing here?"

Nila looked to the sides and said "I... I don't know exactly." David raised an eyebrow to her, and she continued "I just thought I heard-" she suddenly trailed her sentence as she gasped and her eyes widened. The others followed her look and saw what she saw: in the shore of the lake, was a dinosaur, a brown longneck. He seemed heavily wounded as many cuts were all over his body, some with darkened and with greenish coloration around them, indicating that maybe was an infection, and the longneck had lost a lot of blood, judging by the amount of dried blood in his body and the pale color his brown body had.

"What the..." said David with widen eyes.

"By the spirits!" exclaimed a horrified Gabrielle.

"I'm gonna go sick." said Collin clutching his stomach and covering his mouth. He had weak stomach for things like that, what was the reason why he was left out of heavy training at least for now. He had went sick every time he saw a corpse, and yet in that conditions.

Suddenly, the body twitched and groaned weakly, startling them. It turned its head to them "T-there is someone in there?" it asked with a weak and pained voice "P-please, h-help m-me."

They stared at him for a few moments, Nila was the first to move, she went to him saying "I'll help-" but suddenly she felt someone grabbing her tail and an urgent whisper behind her "No, you don't!"

Nila turned around to see that was David holding her tail, she gave him a confused look "David, what are you doing?" she asked "Let me go, he needs help."

The others too were looking at him, David them let go of the tail and looked her straight in the eyes and whispered "Nila, we were send here to find the stone!" His tone seemed urgent "Find the stone and went back to our valley! Not be seen! Not call attention! Not be discovered!"

Nila looked over to the longneck, groaning in pain as he tried to move, and then back at David "But, David." she said desperate "He is going to die if we leave him!"

"And if you heal him he will discover about us!"

"He could come to live in our valley!" Nila defended "We could take him with us and-" David interrupted "This is not how it works Nila, and you know this!"

Nila then adopted a ferocious look, very rare to see in her face "David." he tone was a hint of threat "This longneck needs me and I'm not going to simply walk away and let him die, and you should know this. I really expected you to be better than this."

Collin and Gabrielle shared a look and David even retreated one step. He looked at Nila surprised. She took one deep breath and spoke more controlled "David, I know you don't think this way. I want to help this longneck, and you know that when is to help someone, no one can make me change my mind or stop me."

He gave her an evaluating look, he was very admired at her, and also, he actually shared her feelings, and would probably do the same thing in her place. He sighed and then spoke more softly "If Zeiran asks for you, we will have to tell the truth, and you know that as member of the council he will not exactly approve this."

Nila nodded "I can deal with him later."

He smiled at her, and turned to the other two and said "Okay, she made her mind. You two are witnesses that I tried. Let's go to the stone and carry that back to our valley." And with this he started walking away back to the cave, the other two shared a look.

"Oh, Zeiran will not be happy for this." was all Gabrielle said before walking after David, Collin gave Nila one final look and said "I'll be back later to see if everything is okay." And so he too went after the other two, leaving Nila alone.

Nila turned away and ran to the longneck. She came closer and knelt near him and brushed his cheek with her hand to reassure him. Truth to be told, the wounds seemed worse from close.

The longneck moved a little as he felt a small hand touch his body, wincing and groaning from the pain of his wounds. Nila assured him "Sshh. It's okay, I'm here to help you, don't be afraid, don't move, it's okay."

He moved his head to her, only then Nila noticed that his eyes were closed, and that were coming blood of them. His eyes had been catch and now he was most likely blinded. "P-please, help me."

"Shh. I will, relax and don't worry." She assured him once more, and decided to finally ease his pain. She placed her hands in one of the wounds, making the longneck flinch, and focused to make the wounds heal. But to her surprise, the wounds didn't closed as she touched them. She looked strange at that cut, and put her two hands at the wound, and focused more.

She then felt a strange feeling being coming of those wounds, a feeling that made her feel bad and inspired fear in her. She gasped as she removed her hands from the wound and stumbled back a little. The wound was smoking some kind of black fog. "W-w-what? What is h-happening?" asked the wounded longneck as if he noticed nothing of strange in his wounds.

Nila's eyes widened as she gasped at the fog _Oh no._ She thought _Please, not this._

"A-are you still there?" asked the logneck, his voice sounded afraid now. Nila quickly crawled back to him and put her hand in his face to assure "It's okay." she faked her voice the best she could "Is only that... Your wounds are a little worse than I thought."

She looked back at the wounds that now had stopped letting out fog, and she asked tha longneck "What happened to you?"

The longneck expression became heavy and he spoke with a hint of anger "S-s-s-sharpteeth!" Nila looked at him as he spoke "T-they attacked m-me when I was alone. T-t-there must have be-een six or seven of them... They s-surrounded me, and some jumped in my b-back... They had waited... Until I was alone... The cowards... I... I still see that red glowing eyes"

Nila had a serious look in her face, and the longneck spoke again "They attacked me bad, even when I couldn't fight anymore... It was not for food... They wanted to see me bleed... I was able to escape by diving in a near river… The current carried me and-" he winced in pain again, Nila assured him again "Sshhh. It's okay. You're safe now. Ssshhh"

The longneck relaxed over her gently voice. Her sincerity making him feel better, but yet, he was still in pain and afraid "P-please..." He asked her "Don't leave me."

Nila looked sympathetically at the longneck. "I may have to leave you soon now and then." she said with sadness, but quickly added "But I'll come back. I'll be taking care of you and your wounds until you're better."

The longneck relaxed and laid his head in her lap, she gently brushed his head like he was her hatchling "My name is Nila." She said "And don't worry, because I'll not give up on you..." She trailed, as she noticed that she did not knew the longneck's name. The longneck seemed to perceive exactly this.

"Bron..." He said tiredly at her "My name is Bron."


End file.
